Ron Weasley and the 54th Hunger Games
by Creamy Chessnut
Summary: 'I look around the cave. This was her cave. I don't deserve to stay here.' When Ron Weasley is entered into the Hunger Games, he considers it a death sentence. And it is. But he isn't dead; not yet. And he must win. No one can distract him from his goal. Except, like always, a certain bushy haired girl shows up.
1. The Reaping

Chapter 1; The Reaping

My Mother told me to never be afraid. She said that fear wasn't real, but it was just us being unsure of what is to come in the future. And I know what she means. And it's true. Because I'm scared. Petrified even. More so than before. Because this time, there is no one to volunteer for me. Last year there was Fred and George, who always promised they would go up if I was chosen. And even though I always argued, I felt safer knowing that I had them. But this year, this year I'm all on my own. No one will do anything if my name is pulled from that bowl. No one is close enough to me to take my place; not even Seamus, my closest friend in this district, would volunteer for me. When it comes to the games, it's every man for himself.

My Mother dresses me and Ginny up special for the reaping. Ginny is a year younger than me, but twice as fierce. She could probably win the games. I know she could. She would disguise as the little girl who doesn't know what she's doing, and sneak along. Only at the end, would she show what she could do. She can kick. And punch. And whiles it's nothing compared to having a sword, or bow and arrow, it's something. Deep down, I know it would be hard for her to kill someone, but when you're in the games, something would probably take over you. My Father always says that it is like a game of chess; you have to have a strategy, you have to make sacrifices, and you have to know where to move; you have to be one step ahead. And luckily for me, I am quite a chess player.

I have to admit, while I'm scared of being picked, if Ginny was was, I would volunteer in a heartbeat. I would kill anyone who came close to touching her, with my bare hands. And I mean it. Though, using a sword would probably be much easier.

She's wearing a green dress, and her hair is tied back in a neat bow. Her hair's bright red, like mine. Maybe a tad darker, but very similar. She's moaning at the moment.

"Mum! I don't want to wear these shoes! I can't walk in them!" She's holding up a pair of heels, and I laugh. It's true, she could never walk in them.

"What are you laughing at?" She snaps, glaring at me from across the table.

I smirk, before speaking, "You're just an idiot who moaning over shoes."

She has daggers in her eyes, and I swallow uneasily; her fierce streak is coming out now.

"You're the idiot," she says, rolling her eyes. "I just can't walk in these stupid fricking shoes!"

"Ginny!" My Mother yells, as I laugh again. My Mother shoots me a dark look, and I stop.

My Family's the Weasleys. We all have red hair. We all are wizards and witches. And, we all love eachother. There are 9 of us in all. Mum, Dad, Bill, Charlie, Percy, the twins Fred and George, me, and Ginny. Bill, Charlie and Percy have all left home, and live round the corner from us. They can't get away from us; we can't leave the District.

We live in District 7. You know, most known for trees and timber, and all that sort of thing. Mum hates it here. So does Dad. It was alright in the Districts, until 54 years ago. The Districts were at war with the Capitol, the city in which the Districts are based around. The Districts weren't getting the amount of supplies from the Captiol that they required, so the rebellion was born. I think alot of people were actually sick of the Capitol bossing us around.

However, during the war, Gillert Grindlewald, the President of the Capitol, was killed. The Capitol was so angry that they banned anyone from leaving their own District. However, it didn't stop there. Next, a new plan was concieved. Each year, as punishment, each of the 12 Districts would produce a Witch and a Wizard, age 12-18, to be put in an arena. In the arena, the 24 victims, would have to fight to the death. The last remamining survivor was the winner. It's called the Hunger Games. The worst bit is that the Capitol control it, own it, yet don't participate in it; their children are safe, even though they had a pretty large part to do with the war.

At the Reaping, the Witch and Wizard are chosen. Your name is pulled from an glass ball. If you are chosen, you're in; unless someone volunteers to take your place; but that's very rare. Only Career Tributes are known to volunteer. They are tributes from Districts 1,2 and 4. They are the wealthiest Districts. The poorer Districts, are Districts such as 11, and 12.

Here in District 7, we have an okay life. Ever since I've been 6 years of age, I've been climbing trees, and helping out with the work. I am pretty good with an axe, and various other tools, and I can carve pretty well; I'm the best! Well, after Mum. My best creation is a Dolphin, which took me a very long time to create. I started by trying to carve a replica of Mum's bear, the one from her Grandfather, that is her pride possession. However, it sort of didn't work out, so I turned it into something else; my Dolphin; I then gave it to Ginny for her birthday present, and I think she sort of treasures it.

I sit quietly for a while, every know and then, checking to make sure I look okay. We always wear our best clothes to the Reaping, to look good to the other Districts, and to the Capitol.

"Come on Ron, we're going now," Mum calls. I swallow, before getting up. Everyone's leaving now. We walk out the house, and I don't look back like many of the other teenagers do; if I look back, I know I won't be going back.

All my brothers walk towards us, hugging me and Ginny. As they do, I look around; two of these people around me, aren't going to go home; two of them, of us, are going to be leaving, most probably forever. I gulp loudly.

We arrive at the centre of District 7s small Village. Me and Ginny are pushed forward by Mum. I wince slightly, as a sample of my blood is taken, and I go to stand with the rest of the boys around my age. I see Seamus, but a crowd of people is inbetween us, so I can't get close enough to him. Anyway, I'll seem him after; we always go and climb the tallest trees after; sort of a tradition.

Soon, everyone is here. I see Ginny standing with the other girls, talking excitedly, while the others look at her like she's mad; it's only an act, and I know it; deep down, she's petrified.

The Mayor, Cornelius Fudge, a right old bugger in my eyes, steps up to the podium. He's wearing he usual bowler hat, and a smart suit, and he isn't looking at any of us in the eyes; he always gets emotional, he does. Like I said, right old bugger, getting upset when he hasn't any children to be nominated, and he doesn't have to do anything himself; I swear he just puts on a show. Stupid bastard.

"Good afternoon, citizens of District 7," he says slowly. Wow, get on with it; I'm getting more scared by the minute.

He speaks the usual stuff, but I barely listen. Before I know it, Gracie Timones is at the podium. 2 glass balls are brought forward by the Death Eaters; they are like security incase the tributes try and run away after.

I swallow at the sight of the glass balls. There must be about 30 or more slips of paper in there, with my name on it; I had to sign up for tesserae, as my family is fairly poor.

I glance towards Gracie. Her hair is bright yellow, like last year. Her skin is greenish, and her eyes have bright blue eyeshadow around them; that's what is popular in the Capitol. Gracie must be atleast 45. But all she does, is try to look younger and younger; she even has a tattoo of a heart above her left eyebrow. Pathetic if you ask me.

"Welcome!" She exclaims, in a high pitch squeaky voice. It really gets on my nerves. "Welcome to the 54th annual hunger games!" I roll my eyes at her. Bitch.

For the next 20 minutes, the video plays; it's the most boring thing ever. It just goes on about how the Districts were wrong, and how what is happening is all our fault. The way it is portrayed is as the Capitol weren't involved. I actually thing they forget the amount of innocent people they killed.

After the video, Gracie turns back towards the crowd. She has a tear in her eye, like every year. "Well, that was just, just moving..."

The whole District is silent; clearly everyone thinks that video was rubbish.

"Well then, let's keep going!" She smiles, clearly fake, as always. "May the odds be ever in your favour!"

She steps towards the girls glass ball first, saying "Ladies first!". I clench my eyes shut, unable to watch. "Not Ginny, not Ginny, not Ginny..."

"LUNA LOVEGOOD!?" Gracie's loud voice makes my eyes open. I sigh in relief. "Ginny's safe! Ginny's safe!" I watch, unable to keep the smile off of my face, as a young girl with white blonde curly hair, steps up onto the stage. She doesn't looked scared, or shocked, but more like she's daydreaming. The smirk is wiped off my face, as I realise who she is. Luna. Ginny's bestfriend. I swallow and look towards Ginny; she's crying. Properly crying. I swallow again, before looking back towards the stage.

"Well, Any volunteers?" Silence. "Luna Lovegood everyone! Our female tribute!" No one claps.

Gracie's hand moves towards the boys glass ball. I shut my eyes again, swallowing. I'm scared. Very scared now. I peek, and watch Gracie take out a piece of paper. A tiny shred. I close my eyes again.

Don't be me.

Boom boom.

Don't be me.

Boom boom.

Don't be me.

Boom boom.

Don't be-

"RONALD WEASLEY!?" Gracie's voice errupts into the air. I keep my eyes shut. This can't be real. My name wasn't just- no it's not real. I'm shaking now, but I stay still.

"RONALD?"

Someone pushes me forward, causing me to open my eyes. The whole crowd is looking at me. Someone pushes me again. I cringe, taking a single step forward. Then another. And another. And another. Until eventually, I'm on the stage. "Any volunteers?" Again, no one does; all that is heard is sobbing.

"Ronald Weasley! Our male tribute!" No one claps again. I look, and see my Mother sobbing, with my Father's arm around her. I see Ginny weeping, hugging herself tightly. Before anyone does anything, I take out my wand. The Deatheaters clench their own, obviously thinking I am going to attack. However, I raise my wand up high into the sky, and shoot blue sparks out the end of it. Luna mimicks me, and then before I know it, everyone is sending blue sparks up into the sky.

"Wherever we go, wherever we be, we are together, you're here with me. Your heart might burn, mine might break, but I am a fighter, and that won't change. District 7, goodbye, farewell for now, pray for us eachday, in your hearts somehow." I speak the poem that each child is taught from a young age. In a few Reapings, you have someone who is brave enough to speak it up. And I wanted to, so I did. And then the rest of Distirct 7 reply.

"We will pray, this we swear. We will miss you, wherever you go, somewhere. Not ever will our hearts remain, the same that they use to be. For together, our District is more than one, a great big family."

I almost cry as the words are spoken, but I remain tough; I have never listened to them to them the way I do now, and I hoped that I never would have too. But I do. I watch my Mother cry even more, I watch Ginny fall to the ground, I watch my family break; and I can't do nothing to stop it; not now.


	2. Goodbyes and First impressions

Chapter 2: Goodbyes and first impressions

Luna and I are ushered off the stage, and into the side building. The Deatheaters snatch away my wand (which will probably be snapped, even if they are supposed to save incase I win), and push me into a dark room, and I stand inside, struggling not to cry.

The room is a pale shade of orange, much like my room at home. Home. I won't see my home again. There's no way I will. I can't beat 23 others. Especially not the Careers. They are trained for this sort of thing; it's supposed to be illegal, but they hid it pretty well, calling it a club or something like that, or a gym. It's only because they are rich; they can afford things like that. District 1 and 2 is always the Capitols favourite; they produce the luxury and the Deatheaters.

The door opens suddenly, and before I can look up, Mum crushes me into a tight hug, squeezing the air out of me. Dad's behind, and is tapping me on my shoulder, and the rest are standing around us.

Mum finally palls back, and I see her face is red from crying.

"It's going to be okay Mum," I say softly, but she just shakes her head.

"No you're not Ronnie," she whispers. "You're going to s-see things; horrible things; d-death, m-urder, t-toture. J-just promise me that y-you won't turn into one of t-them. Y-you won't become a peice of t-their games."

I nod, and she gives me a sad smile, before reaching out and taking my hand; she puts something small in it. I glance down, and see the bear; her bear. The one with so much detail, that I foolishly tried to copy. And I laugh, a sad laugh if you get what I mean.

"Thanks," I say, before putting it in my shirt pocket. She nods, before walking to the back.

Dad looks at me, right in the eye, before speaking up. "Remember chess, Ron; but in this game, there is no king to protect, no queen to move anywhere she pleases; in this game, there are only pawns, pawns that are special and ruthless, but also made to be killed. In this game, you have to be the knight; you have to change your direction; you can't always move ahead one space at a time; you have to take 2 steps forward, and one to the side. You have to outsmart the pawns." I don't understand his words, but I smile anyway.

Dad gives me one last smile, before joining Mum.

Ginny, Fred, George, Percy, Charlie and Bill all come at the same time, all hugging me, all saying words that I can barely hear, but I know they are out of love.

Then, they are suddenly pulled out, without saying a proper goodbye.

I stand, waiting for the Deatheaters to come and get me, but the door suddenly opens, and I have another visitor; Seamus.

He stands awkwardly, before walking towards me, and giving me a hug. It's only a quick hug, but it makes me feel happy, that I actually have a friend who cares for me.

Seamus looks at me, sorrow on his features. "I'm sorry, Ron. I should've voluntered. I saw ya Mam and Pa cryin, and yuh sister, and everyone, an I didn't do anythin. I'm sorry, mate, I am, I swear, and I will help ya folks, an everythin."

"It's fine, Seamus. I would never had forgave myself if you have voluntered for me; I'm glad you didn't; your parents need you; you're an only child; my parents have got the others to fall back on."

"It doesn't make ya less special; you're their boy."

"Yeah, well, just look after Gin, yeah?"

Seamus nodded. "Good luck; look afta yourself in their; no distractions, right?"

"Right," I say.

Seamus looks at me again, before slapping me on the back. "Good luck mate, win this thing."

Then he was gone.

The cameras are waiting outside, as me and Luna are walked onto the train; my face is strong, and hard, as I still haven't submitted; it's a good thing, I don't want to be seen as somebody weak.

We are taken to a a very impressive room, which has a large flat screen tv, and a big leather sofa. I fall onto the soft seat, and almost forget why I am there; I should not be enjoying this. But it's hard not to, especially when I'm well aware that this is the most expensive room I have ever been in.

Luna sits beside me, and I notice that she doesn't look as if she has been crying either. In fact she looks quite cheerful, even though she has just been given a death sentence.

"It's nice here, isn't it? Very comfortable..." her voice trails off, as she looks happily around the room. I frown; how can she seem so... fine?

We sit in silence, waiting for Gracie and our Mentor to appear. Our Mentor is Sirius Black. He won the 31st Hunger Games, 23 years ago, when he was 16. He didn't really make an impression at first, so my Mum says, and he played the pretty boy who was fighting to get home to the girl he loved; and it was all fake. At the end, he grabbed a rope, which had been in his survival pack, and had started strangling the last remaining tributes; he was rutheless. We use to have 2 Mentors, but one of them, Julia Spinster, went mad 6 years into it. The other two, Henry and Emma both refused. Henry used to but won't anymore because of his age; he won the 3rd Hunger games. Emma won't because she has too look after her Mother who is really ill, so we only have Sirius.

I suddenly realise, that in all my thoughts, Gracie and Sirius have entered, and are talking to Luna. I glance up, and see Sirius standing there, a look of... determination on his face. His hair is long and dark, like I remembered seeing last year; running the left side of his face, is a long scar, inflicted by a dagger from when he was in the games; the last tribute put up a fight with him.

Sirius glances towards me, and frowns. I go slightly red; have I done anything wrong?

"You're Molly's boy," he says. It's a statement, not a question.

I nod.

"Her Father, he passed away a couple of years ago, correct?"

"Yeah, h-he did."

Sirius sighed, before taking a seat on the edge of the sofa.

"He was a lovely old man, clever, helpful, kind... He was like a Father to me, he always helped me when I was a child; I grew up without a Father, you see, my Father died after having a heart attack. He took me under his wing.." He pauses, looking at me, before punching me hard in the stomach, before I have any chance to react. I scream, glaring at him.

"What was that for!" I yell.

"You put your gaurd down, boy. Trusting someone who you have never met! How will you get out of the games if you do that?!"

"You're not any trouble to me! Your my mentor! Why would I be scared?"

"You cannot trust someone to help you, you cannot trust anyone straight away; it's a clear fact!"

"I'm sorry! I wasn't expecting danger until the arena," I snarl.

Sirius stands up, frowning at me again. Without taking his eyes off of me, he speaks to Graice, "Put the tv on, the Reapings should be on now."

Luna leans over to me, and whispers, "It's just the nargles; they will be gone soon."

Before I can ask what on earth a nargle is, the reaping of District 1 is on.

The District 1 tributes look fierce and angry; the boy has white blonde hair, and a pale pointed face, and the girl has dark hair, and she looks like a dog. As soon as I see District 2, I know that I have to watch out for the guy. He must be 18, and I think his name is Cormick, or Cormac or something like that. He has a strong body, and doesn't look like this is a joke.

District 3 doesn't make an impression, as both of the tributes look wimpy, but I know they are around my age, and that I shouldn't count them out.

However, District 4 is a whole different story. The boy has a strange name, and he clearly has been training. His muscles are big, and he keeps puffing out his chest. He voluntered. At first, a young fierce looking 13 year old had been picked, but this guy had stepped in; and the younger didn't seem happy.

"What are you doing? Trying to take away my pride! This was mine, you moron, mine!" In the end, he had to be carried of the stage.

But the girl, the girl chosen struck me. She was small, about 5'4, but around 17 years old. Her hair was brown and curly, tied back into a ponytail. She didn't show signs of sadness, or anything; her face was impassive. Her brown eyes looked straight ahead. Her face is pretty, and even though her expression is cold, she seems to have put a strange warmth in my stomach. And I don't know why; she's a career. However she seemed strong minded, clever, and clearly she had been keeping fit; obviously, being brought up in a Career District had its advantages. I think her name is Harmony, or something similar, but I can't remember. I think I was too stunned.

I don't pay much attention to 5 and 6, but I do notice that a 13 year old girl from District 6 was picked. When the reach District 7, I watch Luna bounce onto the stage. I see myself hold up my wand, the Deatheaters moving slightly. I see the blue sparks, the ryhmes. And then it's over.

District 8 has another fairly large guy, and a pretty chinese girl, whose name is Cho. I think I only remember it because there isn't another way to pronounce that name; it's very simple.

District 9 had another small 13 year old, a young boy, who looked scared out of his wits. I can't blame him.

10 and 11 I don't watch. Well, I do, but not much.

And District 12 produces the usual. A boy with scruffy dark hair. He's quite small. Out of the Seam I think, the poorest part of District 12. He wears broken glasses, so I assume he is fairly poor. The girl must have been richer. She had on fairly nice clothes, and has red hair, which is unlike mine, just saying. It's more sort of blood red, than ginger red.

After seeing the 'competition', there are 3 tributes I feel are the most deadly; the two from District 4, the girl who showed no emotion, and the boy who voluntered, and also, for some reason, instead of the other careers, the boy with the broken glasses...


	3. Chariots

Chapter 3: Chariots

We arrive that night, before I've even slept. We are ushered into a large building, and pulled into rooms on the 5th floor. My room has a large double bed, and is painted in a calm blue. There is a wardrobe at the end of the room, and I walk towards it, opening it up. Inside, there are various different suits, tops, trousers, and finally, what I'm looking for, Pyjamas.

I pull of my clothes, after taking out my carved bear from my Mum, and placing it on my bedside table. When I'm in my pyjamas, I climb into the bed... and I almost die of comfort.

I wake up to hear s loud knock on the door. I groan angrily, before hearing a sharp, "GET UP THIS INSTANT!" which causes me to get up quickly.

I walk out in my pyjamas and see Sirius standing before me, Luna by his side, also in her pyjamas.

"You're going to be meeting your stylists; eat this; you won't be eating again until tonight."

Sirius hands us a slice of toast, then he walks us down a hall, and into a small room. In the room, there are two doors. "Luna take the one on the right, Ron the one on the left."

I do as he says, and I come face to face with three young girls, all of whom look totally mad. One has green skin and purple hair, with gold eyebrows; she also has a tattoo of a flower on her right cheek. The next on, who is slightly smaller, has blue hair, which is in all different directions. Her skin has a reddish tinge, and there is a jewel sewn into her right arm. The last one is by far the maddest. Her skin is purple, proper violet. Her hair is all shaved off, except for a gold streak down the middle, which runs into a short ponytail. She has three jewels sewn into her face.

The first one steps forward. "Hello!" She exclaims, in a giggly voice. "I'm Grettle, and these are Sophia, and Malih, and we are going to be... getting ready for your stylist, Gryffin!"

I nod, still unsure about them.

The middle one, Sophia, stephs forward, smiles, and then speaks up, "Strip," she orders.

I stand shocked. Naked. No way. This is not fair. "Do-do I have too?" I ask, blushing.

"Yup," Malih says happily.

So I strip.

An hour later, after being washed, and having all of my 'unwanted' hair remove, I am finally ready to meet Gryffin. It was the most painful experience of my life, and I am happy it's over.

He comes in, and to be honest, I am shocked. He looks far too normal. He has a normal tanned skintone, a normal head of dark brown hair, and a normal jewel and tattoo free face (he has a tattoo of a Gryffin on his arm, but I can understand why).

"Hello Ron," he says cheerily. He's only young, about 25 I think.

"Erm, hi," I say awkwardly. I'm very self concious that I'm standing in front of him in just my underwear; I mean, he's a guy, it's weird.

"How did the first stage go? By the looks of things they cleaned you up a lot, cut your hair slightly, but you still look the same; just more, pristine."

I nod. In truth, I'm happy not much was changed. Sometimes you see tributes with all their hair cut off, or their skin having a faint tinge of colour to it, but that wasn't the case for me. I'm happy they kept me fairly the same.

Gryffin looks me up and down again. "I wanted to keep you natural; you've made quite an impression already, and keeping you the same with help that."

I'm taken back at first. I made an impression. But then I realise that it is probably because of my red hair, and my shoulders slump.

Gryffin however, doesn't notice this, and carries on. "I think what made you stand out was the fact that you seemed strong at your reaping. Never have the people of the Capitol been felt with so much sorrow and warmth for a tribute; what you did with the blue sparks, even at such a small gesture, it touched them in a way that nothing else could... it made you different. It united you with them somehow."

It surprises me that the small tiny gesture I made, could bring such an amazing outcome. That the Capitol liked me. And suddenly, I'm much more confident and outgoing, and I feel that I could win this. And nothing has even happened yet.

"So, you decided to keep me the same," I say, happily.

"Yes, once someone has made an impact, changing them isn't the right way to go... so in fact, you are very lucky."

I frown at the word lucky. I'm anything but lucky, and I want to say it, but I hold my tongue; he could easily change his mind.

"Now," Gryffin continues. "Luna's stylist and I have designed matching outfits for the Chariot parade."

I groan. "Not more tree costumes," I sigh. Every year, the tributes from District 7 wear trees. And I don't think I can pull a tree off.

Gryffin laughs. "No, I'm much more adventerous. This is what I came up with."

The wall opens, and an outfit comes through on a hook. It's an all in one suit. And it is amazing. It's a mix up of different shades of green and brown, and I realise that if I stood in a forest, I would be camoflauge. It's sort of like an army kind of thing, which makes it symbolise so much more; I am going to fight.

"What do you think?" Gryffin asks.

"It's, it's, it's just wow. So much better than the trees." It's a lame show of what I feel, but I've never been a really emotional person.

Gryffin smirks. "Put it on then."

After getting my outfit on, Gryffin adds some last minute adjustments. He styles my hair, making it look like a cross between messy and smart. He then puts makeup on me (I know, makeup?). He darkens out my eyes, saying I can look fierce, but also he adds a slight red tinge to my cheeks (only slighty) to give the impression that I am also charming.

I meet Luna afterwards. She is wearing the exact same thing as me, except, she looks a lot different. Her hair, which hung at her waist, now hangs at her shoulders.

"Woah," I say, shocked at how different it is.

Luna smiled happily. "I know! They said long hair will get in the way in the arena; so I let them cut it!"

I roll my eyes, smiling. "Come on, let's go to our chariot."

We are all lined up now. I feel really nervous. The Chariots in front start moving. And now it's out turn.

"DISTRICT 7!"

Our Chariot lurches forward, and I nearly fall on my face, but I steady myself. As we come into the public view, I hear loud cheers from the crowd. People are waving. Screaming. Crying. I hear people shouting my name, loudly, and it makes me feel good. So I start reacting. I wave, smiling goofily, and the crowd love it! The scream louder, and I think this is the most easiest thing ever; people like me. If I can get sponsors, I can win. This competiton, it can be mine!

The ride finishes far too quickly for my liking; I was actually enjoying hearing the public scream for us, for me. None of the other tributes costumes match to ours; except District 4 stylists must have been good.

Usually, District 4 wear the same thing; either fish costumes, or being as Neptune and a Mermaid; however, this time, it was different.

The boy is wearing a gold strap which hang from his right shoulder, and went towards his left hip. It was enterwined with seaweed. His bottoms, which rested above his knees, were green, with gold embroidery. His skin had a slight greenish tinge, and his eyes were decorated with gold.

The girl looks stunning. Her brown hair is tied back, in what my Mother would call, 'A fishtail plait'. Atop her head sits a gold crown, with the seaweed running up it. Her top is green, and tied up at the back of her neck. It travels down her body to a couple of inches above her waist, where it then goes skinny, and joins on to her gold bottoms. When she moves, the bottoms seemd to have fish, swimming along, an illusion. I look at her face. Her eyes are outlined with gold, swirls going up her face, and she seems to be staring. At me.

I gulp. She has noticed me staring. And I still haven't looked away. She frowns, her lips parted slightly, in confusion. I was about to maybe smile or something, but then I realised that she was a Career, and that she was someone I had warned myself not to get close too; so I turn away from her.

After the long night, I lay down in bed, rather happy; I was well liked. That was good. However, a thought suddenly appears in my head. Tomorrow, we start training. Tomorrow, I learn how to fight. Without a wand. That ought to be good.


	4. Training

Chapter 4: Training

I'm standing standing alone, in the middle of the training hall. Luna left me, bounding off towards the bows and arrows, and I have no idea where to start. I glance towards the weapons, and see all the Careers there, throwing around swords, smashing up targets, destroyi- wait. One Career is missing. There are only 5 over there; they girl from District 4 isn't there.

I know it's crazy, and that I don't even know the girl, and I shouldn't want to know her, but something about her, something interests me. So my eyes start scanning for her.

I see her, standing over by the knots. Someone else is too, the boy from District 12, the one with the glasses. They aren't talking I don't think, and I find myself wandering over there. As I get to the station, I pick up a rope, and try forming a simple cross hand tail knot, whatever that is. My hands fumble, and it isn't going very well; and someone happens to notice.

"You're doing it all wrong; for starters, the end you aren't using should be tucked up into the back, and what on Earth are you doing with the clipped end? It's supposed to be crossed over, and then twisted, not the other way round."

I glance up, angrily, and see the girl looking down at my knot, her eyebrows raised.

"What does it matter anyway?" I ask, folding my arms, letting my knot fall to the table.

She picks it up, her small hands 'fixing' my knot, until it's, oh, so perfect.

"That's how it is supposed to be; seriously, it's so simple," she mutters, rolling her eyes, causing my anger to build up.

"If it's, so simple, then why are you here? Trying to find someone to annoy?" I snarl angrily.

She glances at me, a slight implication of hurt in her eyes, and then its gone; she looks impassive, just as she did at the reaping.

"I'm just trying to help, you know," she says coolly. She turns to walk away, but stops suddenly in her tracks. "And I would try and pay more attention to the knots; they could be the difference in the arena." Then she wanders off towards the plants.

"She's quite fiesty, aint she?" A voice says from my left.

I turn and find the boy with the glasses looking at me, eyebrows raised, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Yeah," I laugh, rolling my eyes. "Abit cranky, huh?"

He laughs, before looking down hopelessly at his knot. "I don't get it either, if it makes it any better; it's probably because she's from District 4; you know, fish and everything."

I nod, sighing.

"You're Ron right?" He asks me, and I feel bad suddenly because I can't remember his name.

"Yup," I answer.

He stretches his hand forward. "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you," I say shaking his hand.

He grins, and is about to say something, when suddenly someone calls him.

"Hey Harry, c'mover here!" It's the boy from District 11 I think.

"Yeah, coming Neville!" Harry calls back, before turning to me. "See you 'round?" Then he walks away, and I sigh; he seems to have an alliance already; it's a shame, because he would have been good to have.

The next day, I move on to weapons. I start by using a bow and arrow, but then realise that I am crap, and move onto using a dagger. It's fairly easy, and I have quite a good aim and technique with it; also it's not to heavy and easy to see, like the swords the Careers are trying; it's actually perfect, and I hope to find one when in the arena.

I found out last night that the girl from District 4 is called Hermione. We were talking about training at the table, and I mentioned seeing her away from the other Careers. Luna somehow over heard her name, and now it's all I can think of. Hermione.

It's quite an unusual name, and I know that I have never heard of it before. To be fair, I don't know why I'm still thinking about her, because she was quite rude, and pretty full of herself. I'm sure she could have corrected me in a nicer way than that. "You need some help with that?" she could have said, or even, "Mind if I show you?"

At the moment, I'm sitting outside the room for where I have to go to perform in front of the Gamemaker, Pius Thicknese, and his other men of some importance. Luna went in before me, and I'm waiting.

I sigh.

Nothing.

Still waiting.

Still waiting.

Still waiting.

Wow, this is getting bor- THE DOOR OPENED!

"Ronald Weasley", the voice calls.

Oh no, I feel really nervous. I stand up, and take a deep breath. Stay calm. Harry gives me an encouraging smile, but I can't return it because my nerves have got the better of me.

I walk in, slowly. I've planned it all out. The people, the judges, are all looking around, sizing me up. And I begin.

I pick up a sharp rock, and a peice of wood. I start carving the edges of the wood with the rock, making a comfortable handle. Then I press the sharp peice of rock into the middle of the wood, making a slot. I turn the rock around, the sharp side facing away from the handle, then I slip the rock into the slot. Holding the rock in place, I gather some of the strong grassy rooty planty thing (whatever it is), and tie it around the rock and handle, holding it in place. It seems fairly strong.

I glance towards the end of the room, where there are targets. I fix my eye on one, the one of the head, and I throw it straight towards it; it hits bang in the middle, and stays there; it worked.

I glance up towards the judges, but only one of them is looking at me; Thicknese. He frowns, but dismisses me anyway.

I got a 10. A 10 out of 12. A 10. An actual 10. It's one of the highest. Blaise got 11, but that was expected. But me. A 10.

Luna got an 8. Most got less.

But 4 people got 10s.

Me. Harry. Cormac. And Hermione.

I got higher than 3 of the Careers. Draco, Pansy and Lavender (I learnt more names) got 9, while I, me, I got a 10.

An actual 10.

10.

10.

10.

10.

10.

Wow. I got a 10.


	5. Interviews

Chapter 5: Interviews

Gryffin has designed yet another fantastic outfit. It's a suit, midnight blue, with bears embroided into the bottom. I should have known this was coming, to be honest. He asked last night after the scores what my token was. I told him it was a carved bear, and he said perfect. I guess it's good, because bears can also represent District 7, seeing as we have a few bears in the wilderness. And it represents a fighter.

Under the blue suit, I'm wearing a slightly lighter shade, that blends in with the suit exquisitely. My hair is all slicked down, and my prep team put some special drops in my eyes to make the blue stand out more.

I see Luna in the life; she looks nice. She's wearing an emerald green dress, which flows really well. Her hair looks straightened too, as it isn't wavy like it usually is. She sees me, and comes over.

"Hello Ron. You look really nice. The nargles seem to like you," she comments.

"Well, err, thanks? You look really nice too; green suites you."

"Yes well, I have always liked green; the nargles aren't too fond of it though."

"Oh? That's a pity."

"Hmm."

Hermione looks amazing; really really beautiful. We just got out of the lift, and she was the first one I saw. Her hair is down, and it looks stunning. It looks all soft and curly. Her dress is strapless and pure white, with gold swirls across one side. She's standing alone, again away from all the other careers again, who are all talking. I frown. Why isn't she with them? "God Ron," I mutter. "Stop thinking about her."

The interviews start. The girl from District 1, Pansy, is wearing a long red dress. She talks of how she loves being a part of District 1, as she feels like it's a pleasure to makes things for the Capitol. Rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

The boy, Draco, is quite sly and mysterious, barely answering any questions.

The two from District 2 both go for handsome and beautiful, but they both repulse me.

District 3 seem more tense, but they boy manages to get a laugh from the audience. His name is Dean I think. He rambles slightly, but I think he will probably get the lovable vote.

Hermione goes up before Blaise. And I actually really listen to her interview.

"So Hermione? How is it here in the Capitol?" Ludo Bagman, the host, asks.

She smiles. "It's very... different. Not as... fishy as District 4."

The audience laughs, but I can tell there is a hidden meaning there.

"Do you miss it? All that fish?"

She laughs, but it seems fake. "Well, one can only have too much fish. It was nice to smell something different, I suppose."

"Yes.. well.. you must miss it?"

"The fish? No. I don't even like fish."

The whole audience laughs, and I find myself chuckling slightly.

"Well, we've never had that before! A girl from District 4 who doesn't like fish! Wow, now we've heard everything!"

The audience laughs again.

"Anyway, you look very elegant tonight, Miss Granger," Ludo says, his eyes twinkling. He turns to the audience. "Isn't she beautiful!" There is a loud cheer, and I see Hermione blush ever so slightly. It's kind of funny.

"Thank you. I had a really good stylist," she states.

I try to listen to the rest, but it bores me. I'm not interested in how her outfit was adjusted. Or why she had this done. So I sort of start daydreaming.

Suddenly, my name is being called. I didn't even realise Luna had been up. I see her bounce of the stage, and suddenly, I'm walking on. Wow.

"Ron! How are you?"

"I-I'm good," I manage out, in awe of the Capitol crowd.

"I just want to say how touching your performance at the Reaping was... really inspiring. The blue sparks, what made you think of that?"

It's quite a tough question. I mean, come on, I had no clue. It just sort of... happened.

"Well, I wasn't really thinking about it.. I just wanted to send a personal message to everyone. And blue has always seemed... calming."

"Hmmm... well what can I say? You made a big impression on all of us..."

"Yeah well.." I shrug my shoulders.

"So Ron! Life in District 7...how is that?"

"It's good. I love trees." It comes across as cute and charming, and the audience laughs, despite the fact I was being serious; I do love trees.

"You are in the right District then, m'boy!"

"Yeah," I say laughing. Hmm. Let's be more...charming. "Wood is my one true love; shelter, food, what else does a guy need?"

Everyone laughs. This is easy. But by the look on Ludo Bagman's face, it's just going to get more serious.

"At the Reaping, you're sister... she cried her eyes out I saw."

"Yeah... she did," I say quietly, before sighing.

"And you're parents... what did they say to you?"

I swallow. "T-they told me to stay as myself... a-and that I just have to find a strategy."

"And what did you say to them?"

"I told them everything was going to be okay."

"Will it be okay?"

Ludo Bagman's face is close to mine, and I feel uneasy.

"I don't know. Mum lost a brother in these games. I doubt she could handle losing a son too." It's true. When Mum was 13, her brother, Gideon Prewett, was entered. He was 15. He died.

"What will you do about it?"

"I-I won't lose. I will go home," I barely manage it out, and my eyes are becoming wet. No Ron. Don't cry. Not now. Hold it together.

"Good luck m'boy. Stay strong."

As if on cue, the buzzer goes. I jump up, briefly wave to the Capitol, before pushing everyone out the way. I just about hold it together in the lift. When I arrive in my room, I collapse on my bed.

And for the first time, I let myself cry.


	6. First day of the Games

A/N: Thanks to those of you who have reviewed! It means alot :) Well, here you go! The first day in the games...

* * *

6. First day of the Games

I wake up early, having actually had a proper nights sleep, which is weird. I would have thought that I would have trouble sleeping, but I didn't. Actually, the last thing I remember is crying into my pillow.

I sigh, before getting up. Last proper breakfast; I have to eat as much as I can.

Before I go out the door, I pick up my bear token; Mum would never forgive me if I returned home without it.

Luna is up. Even when I get up 'early' she seems to have beaten me. Not that I care. It's just kind of funny, that's all.

"Mornin'," I grumble, falling onto a spare seat.

"Morning!" Luna says brightly.

I don't reply. How can she always seem so... fine.

I eat everything. Toast. Eggs. Bacon. Beans. Porridge. Sasuage. Cereal. Literally. I eat more than I have ever done before. And usually I eat alot.

I drink alot too. Water is going to be the main problem. Well, other than the fact that there are 23 people trying to kill me. Well 22 actually. Luna wouldn't kill me; she's bestfriends with Ginny. And anyway, Luna doesn't seem the sort of person who would kill anyway. Then again, the games change you. And I had promised my Mother that I wouldn't change. And hopefully I wont.

Sirius doesn't say much, which bothers me. He doesn't seem to have been coaching me at all. The only bit of actual advice was what he told me when we first met, 'you cannot trust anyone'. I already knew that. I'm not an idiot.

After I have eaten, Gryffin takes me into my prep room, and presents me with my outfit for the arena. Black bottoms, which are very well made; it's easy to tell. Black hiking boots. Black top. Black jumper/hoody. All black. And to be honest, I hate the colour black.

"I know; it's awful. But we weren't allowed to design your outfit for in the arena; the game makers do that. By the materials I guess you will be in a very large space with mountains hills and probably a woods or two. I know Sirius hasn't helped you as much as you need, but don't fight at the Cornucopia. Get away quick. There is always a blood bath."

I nod, as I pull on my outfit. It fits alright.

"Now, I've got this for you." He pulls out a piece of fine fabric in the shape of like a necklace. But nothing is hanging on it.

"Give me your bear."

I do as he says, and hand it over. He wraps some of the material round the bears neck, before making a knot. He then puts the necklace round my neck.

"Thanks," I say quietly.

"No problem. Now let's go, the hovercrafts are waiting."

In the hovercrafts, I see all the other tributes. Hermione seems tense. Then again, I do too.

Some girl stabs the tracker into my arm, and it really hurts. Why can't they just do a spell or something? It would be so much more easier.

We land, and each tribute is taken into their launchroom. It's white, and I feel weird standing here; black really isn't my colour.

Gryffin comes in and starts talking really quick but I can't hear him. My brain is all jumbled. Only one thing is shooting through my head. In 24 hours, I could be dead. In 24 hours I could be dead. Dead.

"60 seconds until launch."

The voice breaks through the room, and I almost stumble backwards. 60 seconds. I take a deep breath.

"Ron? Hey Ron?" Gryffin clicks his fingers at me, and I glance at him.

"Y-yeah?" I stutter out.

He frowns. "Were you listening to me?"

"I-"

"40 seconds until launch.

Gryffin looks at me, before pulling me in a quick hug. "Win this Ron," he whispers.

I nod, before stepping into the tube.

"30 seconds until launch."

The tube close around me, and I feel slightly claustrophobic. I've never been good in tight spaces.

"20 seconds until launch."

I take a deep breath. This is it.

Gryffin is saying something, but because of the glass tube, I can't hear him. I just nod, my nerves getting the best of me.

"10 seconds until launch."

I feel like breaking. My hands are sweaty and shaking.

"Prepare for launch."

The tube starts moving. Or I do. One or the other. Gryffin gives me a quick smile, but it's not cheerful like usual. No one can be cheerful.

Sunlight comes into view, as does the scent of trees. I don't know how to describe the smell, but it feels like.. like home. Except this is nothing like home. At home I wouldn't be in danger. Well, maybe slightly; you are never safe when Fred anfd George are around.

I'm pushed out of the ground. The sun is blazing; it's very hot. The tributes are spread out in a circle, and in the middle is the Cornucopia. There are weapons, big swords, bows, daggers. There are survival packs, tents, food. But it is just there to lure you in; you have to get away fast.

To my east is the wood. It stretches far back, and I know it's my best bet; I know the woods better than anyone. To my west, there is a large hill, and I can see Mountains in the distance. North, there is not much. A never ending field. And south, well, I'm not turning around.

"60 seconds."

Right. 60 seconds until the blood bath. Remember, just run.

I glance at the tributes. Straight to my right is Draco, the cold Career. To my left, Cho, the chinese girl. Harry is 3 people away from me, and I can't see Hermione, which means she is at the other side of the Cornucopia.

"30 seconds."

I frown, glancing again at the survival packs; I could do with one.

"20 seconds."

Hmm. Run as quick as you can as soon as you can. Don't be distracted!

"10 seconds. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1."

Everything's a blur. I stumble off my podium, as Draco races into the Conucopia. I see many more do the same. I take a deep breath, before running in.

It's against everything I should have done, but I can't survive without something. I run, quick, and I am quick. I grab a backpack. It's orange and will stand out, but I need something. Then, I start running off towards the forest.

I hear a childs scream. I want to turn back, but I can't. All I can think of is the young 13 year old girl who is now dead. I clench my teeth, and keep running. I'm getting closer to the woods.

I keep running when I get into the woods. I need to set myself a few miles from the Cornucopia. I run straight for a few minutes, before adjusting to a fast walk. I walk in the same direction for a while, before sharply changing my course, walking to my right. I do this for a few hours, changing my direction. "Shake it off," I mutter.

Then I hear the first canon. After a fair few hours, the blood bath has ended. Then there is a second canon. And a third. Then a fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth. Tenth. Eleventh. Silence. 11 killed in the first few hours. I pray for Ginny's sake that Luna wasn't one of them.

I continue to walk. And walk. The trees are getting taller. A tall tree would be a good place to stay tonight. No one can climb trees better than me. No one.

I pick a tree, and begin to climb it, high up into the branches. I pick a fairly stable branch, and sit on it, leaning mt head against the trunk. I'm worn out. And thirsty. And I have no water.

My pack! There must be something useful in there! I pull my backpack into my lap, and tip the contents out. A rope. An empty water bottle. Iodine (to clean water). Crackers. And a Dagger. A Dagger! How did I get a Dagger? They give me a Dagger, but no water? Stupid buggers.

Atleast I have something though. Atleast I'm still alive. For now.

It goes dark. The Anthem starts to play, and I turn my head to the sky. At the end of the Anthem, the faces of the fallen are shown.

The girl from District 3.

Both from District 5.

The 13 year old girl from District 6.

Both from 8. The chinese girl, Cho, and that other guy who I thought looked quite strong.

Girl from 9.

Both from 10.

Girl from 11.

Girl from 12. The red-headed posh one.

All the careers made it through, all 6 of them, including Hermione. It makes me slightly happy. Something about her amazes me, and I don't know why; after all, she was pretty rude to me.

Luna survived! Yes! Ginny will be really happy! If I die in this, I hope Luna wins. Ginny atleast deserves one of us to get home.

The fact that Harry survived angers me though. I really would have wanted him as an ally, but instead he is with that Neville boy and fighting against me. Then again, maybe we could become allies if I saw him. Right?

I begin to yawn, and realise that I should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. I tie the rope around me, securing me on my branch. I position myself comfortably, and shut my eyes. All I can think of is the girls scream.


	7. Adjustments

A/N: Thanks again to your reviews. They are appreciated :)

* * *

7. Adjustments

I'm home. I must be. I can hear Mum shouting at Ginny to get up. I can smell the bacon. I smile. Today must be the Reaping. It was all a dream.

I open my eyes, but instead of seeing my room, I see trees. I frown. Where's my bacon?

Then I realise. I was never home. My mind must have been playing tricks on me. I sigh heavily, sitting up. I untie the rope, and put it back in my backpack. Today, I have to find water.

I climb down the tree carefully, making sure I don't make too much noise. I walk slowly, still barely awake. My throat is dry, and my stomach is hungry, but I need to ration my food. Only eat when I have too; I don't want to waste any.

I start searching for mud; after all, mud leads to lakes and rivers. But sadly, it appears harder than I thought it would be. No mud is appearing.

It's still hot, so I take off my jacket and stuff it in my backpack, taking out my Dagger in the process. I need to be on gaurd. I've no doubt that the Careers worked through the night. Well, most of them. I wonder if Hermione's with them now; I hope not.

I hear a canon and if the distance, and cringe. Another dead. I take a deep breath, and continue to walk. Mud. Just find some mud.

I still can't find any mud! Whenever you don't want it, it's there. When you're desperate for it, it won't show up! I growl from frustration.

"Ron?"

I feeze. I know that voice. It's soft and dreamy and-

"Luna!" I say turning around.

Sure enough, Luna is standing before me. Her blonde hair is dirty, and there is a small cut above her left eyebrow, but other than that, she looks fine. She even has a pack too!

"Are you okay?" She asks, stepping towards me.

"Yeah I suppose; really thirsty though, and I can't find any water!"

"What? There is a small lake over there. About 10 minutes away; I'll show you if you like?" She points to the right, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Really!" I say shocked.

"Yup," she says, smiling happily. "C'mon."

We walk in the direction she pointed out, and sure enough we come across mud! I actually start laughing in happiness, which is strange.

The lake is fairly large, and I want to dive into it. But I don't, because that would be crazy.

I pull out my water bottle and the iodine, and fill the bottle up to the top. Obviously then I have to wait half an hour for the iodine to clean it, so I start talking to Luna.

"How did you get your pack?"

"Oh. I found it. In some bushes. I think someone hid it there while hunting. I'm not sure."

"What's in it?"

"A Water bottle, crackers, blankets, a Dagger, a rope and matches," she says.

"Oh right. You have more in yours than I do."

"Really?"

"Hmm. I don't have a blanket or matches."

"Oh."

"Yh."

"Would you like a blanket?" Her offer shocks me.

"Erm, I dunno."

"Well I have two." She rumages through her backpack, and pulls out a blanket, handing it to me.

"T-thanks," I manage out.

"No problem."

"Do you want to be allies?" I ask her for 3 reasons.

1. She's my little sisters bestfriend.

2. She has already helped me twice.

3. She's friendly and it's good to have company.

"Are you sure?" She asks me, seemingly shocked.

I nod. "Yup. Us two should stick together."

"Okay," she says, smiling happily.

I smile, and we talk some more about the games so far. And it's nice, even if I'm doing this mainly for Ginny's sake; she would never talk to me again if I didn't atleast help Luna. We talk mainly about the Careers. Apparently, all of them, except one, are still at the Cornucopia, and using it as sort of their shelter. Also, Luna states that Blaise has taken charge.

"He's ruthless," she mumbles. And I nod.

"He seems it," I murmur.

We don't talk after, both of us daydreaming. I know we should be more on task, and anyone could come and kill me right now, but I want one moment of relaxation. I probably will get very few. Everything has changed. I can't sleep as much as I want, I can't eat as much as I want. I have to adjust my whole lifestyle just for the stupid Capitol. I feel myself getting angrier, when finally, my water is ready. I waste no time in drinking it all at once, and it takes my mind off being angry. I fill it up again, before we get up and leave.

"I stayed in a tree last night; think we should settle there again?"

"Yes I did too," she explains.

We walk for a while, putting a slight distance from ourselves and the lake, however not too far so we can reach it easily. Luna amuses me with talk of Nargles and Crumple-horned Snorkacks, but even talk of weird creatures can't make me feel happier when I hear another canon. That's 2 more dead today.

We climb seperate trees, Luna taking the tree closest to mine, and we each settle on a fairly high but stable branch. And I let myself eat. I only have four crackers, so I nibble on half of one, as does Luna with hers. We don't talk for the rest of the day, due to us beinf fairly far apart, and not wanting to attract any attention. When night comes, I pull out the blanket Luna gave me, and snuggle underneath it. The anthem plays.

The two dead are both boys. One is Dean, the guy from District 3, and the other is the boy from District 6; I don't know his name. I wish I did. It would be nice to remember him. Only the victors are ever remembered.

I'm trying to get to sleep, when I hear a twig break, and then hushed voices.

"Shh Neville! The Careers could be anywhere!" Someone hisses, and I squint. Harry Potter, the boy with the broken glasses in right near my tree; in fact, he's leaning on my tree.

"I'm sorry; I can't see," Neville whispers back.

"We've gotta settle down somewhere," Harry mutters, and eyes my tree. I pray for the love of Merlin that he can't see me. If he can, he doesn't adknowledge me.

"What about up a tree? One of these?"

No! Please not.

"Not here; lets walk a bit farther," Harry says, looking up; I'm sure he can see me.

"Okay then." They disappear.

Not long after, I hear more footsteps. It's only one person this time, I can tell. I glance down and see Hermione. I'm actually glad because I haven't seen her since in the hovercraft, and it's good knowing she's okay. Wow. What is this? I don't get it. How can I feel concerned for someone who was rude to me? It's weird.

She walks slowly, a Dagger in her hand. She seems really tense. She falls down against a tree. And she starts crying.

I would never have thought that the strong impassive girl at the Reaping would have broke down like this, but she has. I can hear her quiet sobs. Her head is in her hands, and I feel sorry for her. I want to comfort her, but I can't. One, she'll probably kill me before I can do anything, and two I think she wouldn't approve of having an audience while crying; that's why she probably waited until night. However, seeing her likes this makes me realise something. That she is a person who has feelings, and that maybe I took her act towards me in training wrong. Maybe she was trying to help me. And maybe, I just made it worse.


	8. For Ginny

I watch Hermione for most the night; she falls asleep at one point, against the tree, and I can't sleep then incase someone comes and tries to kill her when she's sleeping. When she awakes however, I let myself have a few hours. When I wake up, she's gone. I didn't hear her leave, and I wonder if she saw us. I hope not. I don't want her to feel embarrassed about crying, and she would if she discovered that I had seen her. After all, I would be embarrassed if someone saw me cry.

We go back to lake and fill up on our food; I even catch a fish, and we eat it raw because we don't want to start a fire, as it will alert the Careers.

Nothing happens all day. No one dies.

The next day is the same. We don't even run into any other tributes, let alone have a fight with them. If it hadn't had been for Luna, I would have gone crazy! We talk a lot, even if sometimes I have no idea where the discussion is going; it's still nice though.

We haven't recieved a single parachute yet; I hope Sirius is saving up for something good. Now that me and Luna are together, it must be easier for him to get ur gifts, as we share the money from the sponsors. Whatever he sends Luna, I get some of it. And whatever he sends me, Luna gets some. It works well for me because I don't think Sirius likes me very much, and am not exactly fond of him. He hasn't coached me at all, and ignored me most of the time, except when he punched me in the stomach.

"..don't you think?" I suddenly realise that Luna has been talking to me, and I go slightly red as I haven't beenpaying her any attention.

"Ermm, what?"

She looks at me, her eyes filled with curiosity. "We should go to the lake tomorrow? I think we should top up on our water, and maybe even catch a fish too?"

"Yeah, course, right."

"Are you alright Ron?"

"I'm fine.. why?"

"Oh... no reason; I think the Nargles must have found you; not to worry."

I smirk. Oh Luna and her Nargles.

"What exactly are Nargles?" I ask. She has mentioned them so much, but I have no clue what they are.

"Well, they are thieves mainly, but they do like to confuse people; they have been known to try and make your brain go all fuzzy before they take something from you; they are very mischevious, and are invisible to the naked eye."

"Right?" I say, and I laugh.

Luna looks at me, confused. "They are real! Ginny believes me."

"Does she?" I say, laughing.

"Yes," Luna mutters folding her arms. "She does."

"I do believe you," I say quickly. "It's just... they sound funny."

"I suppose," Luna mumbles, and then laughs herself.

The next day, we get up early for our walk to the lake. Along the way, we hear it; a canon. I'm not surprised; it's been nearly 3 days since someone died, it was bound to happen soon. I just hope it's not Hermione. I know, I'm being stupid again. I just hope she's alright, safe, warm. I think of her crying, and I hope she doesn't cry anymore. I don't like girls crying.

The walk to the lake is long and boring, and I kick rocks for most of the time. We're not long from the lake when it happens.

The young boy, the one from 9 who is no older than 14, is laying on the ground squirming, shouting. Sitting on top of him, holding him down, is Cormac. Cormac has a knife betweem his teeth. I stand in shock.

Cormac pushes his knees onto the boys chest, taking the knife from between his teeth. He smirks as he presses it against the boys neck.

I start running towards him now, but it's too late. Cormac cuts the boys throat, and blood pours out, the boy screaming. The screams die down into whimpers, and then, the canon fires.

Cormac turns around, and sees me and Luna standing not far from him. And he starts running.

"RUN!" I yell at the top of my voice.

I start sprinting as quick as I can away. Luna is close behind. I keep running staight, not daring to look back. I run quicker than I did from the Cornucopia, knowing that this is obviously going to be on all of the Capitol TVs.

My chest goes heavy, and my throat goes dry, but I keep running; I can't afford to stop. I jump over a fallen branch, and shoot between the trees. I'm panting, but I still keep running.

I hear a cry. A yell for help. I stop, slowing down. He's got Luna. He's got the knife. And he cuts her throat before I can shout no. Some of her blonde hair goes red from the blood. I see her fall, my eyes locked on her. I don't hear her canon fire, but I know it has; I'm in no state to hear it.

Cormac's face spreads into a wide grin. He's still a good 100 meters from me. He wipes the blood stained knife on his trousers. He grabs Luna's pack. And he slowly starts walking towards me.

I stand there, frozen. I pull my Dagger from my pack. I run. The wrong way.

Most people would run away from Cormac in this situation, but I don't. I run towards him, my Dagger held tightly. He still walks however, smirking. I reach him, and I try to slash him, but he gets there first, scraping my cheek. I kick out, but I miss.

"Well Weasley. I think you ran the wrong way?" He says coolly, stil grinning however.

"You're-going-to-pay," I mutter, through gritted teeth.

"Oh really?"

"Really."

I go to strike him, but he ducks, kicking me in the stomach. It hurts, but I get up, and try again. He dodges it again.

"C'mon Weasley, can't you play better than that?"

I kick, but like everything, he dodges it.

"I'm just too good, aren't I Wea-"

He's cut off, as I kick him hard in the chest. He falls to the ground, dazed. I kick him, hard in the ribs, and I hear a deafening crunch. Then I sit on him, similar to what he did to the boy from District 9. He struggles still, but it makes no difference.

"Please," he croaks out. "Please, my Mum."

I stab him hard in the chest, the comment about his Mum making me angry. "You deserve to die," I mutter, full of hatred. "You deserve to rot in hell."

It feels good. I watch his blood pour out, his eyes lose focus. His canon fires.

I pick up Luna's pack, and walk over to her body. I wince. She looks so broken. I place her pack beside her, and wrap her up in her old blanket, so she doesn't get cold. I wipe away tears. "The Nargles love you Luna," I whisper.

I straighten up, and walk back. As I walk past Cormac, I kick him again, just for good measure. I know Mum didn't want me to become like this, a cold hearted killer. But I'm not. I didn't do it for me. I did it for Luna's best friend. I did it for Ginny.


	9. Blood

.Blood

I walk for a while. My head is spinning. I feel sick.

I don't go to the lake like Luna and I had planned. I can't go. Not yet. I just walk. And walk. And walk. I walk for the whole day. I don't eat, because if I do, I know I'm just going to puke it up. All I can think about is Luna. Her blonde hair turning red. Her cry of help. And I couldn't even save her.

I killed Cormac. But I couldn't save her; I didn't even cry. I just started running; I didn't even look back; I only thought of myself. I'm a selfish prat. And now, Luna Lovegood is dead because of me.

The sky turns dark, and I slump down, leaning on a tree. The Careers can come and kill me now for all I care. I want to be dead. I don't want to see anymore people die. 4 people died today. 4.

The anthem plays. I look up at the sky; I have too.

Cormac's face shows up first. Then that other girl from his District, Lavender I think. Luna's face appears next. Tears begin falling down my cheeks; it's all my fault. Ginny won't forgive me. I'm a stupid prat!

I don't watch the 13 year olds face show up; I didn't do anything to save him either. I'm not worth of winning. If someone came round the corner now, I'd let them kill me.

At some point I must have fallen asleep. When I wake up, it's daylight. I get up, not feeling much better at all. I feel guilty and sick, and still refuse to eat anything.

Wherever I look, I see blood. I know it's inside my head, but it doesn't help. I see it dripping from branches of trees, glistening in the sunlight. When I glance down, I see it there, on my hands. I wipe them and wipe them, but it won't come off. I'm getting frustrated.

"Get off!" I shout, wiping my hands; the blood stays there, and I freak. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I panic. The blood isn't coming off. If won't get off of my hands! I start shaking, my head banging. "G-get off!" I shout, but nothing happens. I fall to the ground, covering my hands with dirt, but it doesn't work; I can still see the blood shining through.

I start crying, wiping my hands. It just won't come off. Why won't it come off?

Then it hits me; I have to wash it off; with water.

I start running, not caring about the direction I'm going in; I just need to find the lake. I need to get the blood off of my hands.

There is blood in every tree I pass. It doesn't help with my mood. It's thick and red. Some of it is dry. I stop, and lean up against a tree, and when I pull back, I see a bloody hand-print on the tree. I look at my hands, hoping the blood is gone, but it's still there, glistening in the sunlight. I swallow, before running again.

I can't find the lake! It's no where to be found! The blood on my hands still won't go, and I'm panicing; everyone can see the blood, everyone knows that Luna and that boys deaths were my fault; everyone.

I feel dizzy, but I stay strong, and keep running. I ignore the blood on the trees now; it just makes the blood on my hands worse. It makes it go all sticky and new.

I slip over, which is a good sign; I must be in mud! But when I look at the floor, I scream. Blood. it's everywhere. I have fallen into sickly red blood. It's oozing and I want to cry. The blood gets on my face. It's sticky, and it makes me shake. "N-no," I mutter. "No!"

It makes no difference. The blood is still there. I scream, but nothing happens. It's my fault. All my fault. I try and stand up, but I can't. I fall over, my face landing in the blood. "G-get off!" I scramble back, out of the blood puddle. I grab onto the trunk of a tree, and help myself up, my bloody hand-prints imprinting on the trunk. I stagger forward, but my legs give way. My eyes shut just before I land in the blood puddle.

I wake up, feeling something wet and now dry on my face. I open my eyes. I'm laying in mud. There's mud everywhere, which means I'm close to the lake. I sit up. How did I get here? Then, it flashes before me. My hands. The blood. The blood puddle.

I glance down quickly at my hands, but see only mud on them; there isn't any blood.

"It was in my head," I mutter. I shiver at the memory of seeing the blood on my hands; I shut my eyes; I don't want it to happen again. I calm down after a few minutes.

I stand up, still slightly dizzy, but I'm okay. I start walking, following the direction of the mud. Every now and then, I glance towards my hands, just to check that blood isn't on them. It isn't; only mud.

I walk fairly slowly, my legs stiff. I stop for a few seconds, closing my eyes, as the thought of Luna drifted into my head. I take deep breaths, before opening my eyes and setting off.

I arrive at the lake, and plunge in. Even though I know that there is no blood on me, it still feels good to feel the cool water on my skin; I make sure I don't drink any though. I swim in the water for a while, clearing my head of all thoughts. It makes me feel better, and reminds me of home, when all my family go down to the lake for a swim.

There was a lake right near my house, on the edge of a wood, and every Sunday, we would go down to the lake for a swim and some family time. On a tree right near the lake, Dad put a rope up, and we use to all swing from the rope into the lake; when I say all, it doesn't include Mum; she use to just read her books, and watch us, sometimes taking pictures.

It makes me smile, but it's not the same. I climb out of the lake sighing. I grab my water bottle, and fill it up, the cleaning it. I wait and wait and wait.

I'm sitting there quietly, when I hear rustling. Immediately, I rush into the woods, crouching down behind a large tree.

Hermione comes out in the open. She smiles and sighs at the sight of the sets her pack down on the floor, pulling out her water bottle, and the iodine. She fills her water bottle up, and I hear her humming which helps calm me down even more. When it's full, she pulls up her bottle, and puts the iodine in. She barely has time to put the top on, before it happens.

He runs out quickly, a Dagger slightly larger than mine in his hand, and slashes her across the stomach before she knows what has happened. I watch her fall to the floor.

Blaise picks her pack up. He glances at her, and I feel a sense of hatred. He then kicks her hard in the ribs, and smirks down at he sight of her; my heart stops. He watches her for a second, and whispers something I can't hear, before walking off.

I swallow, before racing towards her; she's already unconscious. Her jacket is ripped, as is the top underneath; I can see the cut; it's deep.

I pick up her water bottle, putting it into my own pack; then, I move towards her, lifting her unconscious body into my arms, before running off back into the woods.


	10. Hermione

10. Hermione

I hold her tightly as I run through the trees; she's still alive, but she won't be for much longer. I panic. Where can I go? I need somewhere concealed; somewhere people find hard to get too; the mountains.

I don't know the direction of the mountains; I just keep walking straight, away from the lake. I know it's far, but it's the only hope I've got. But there is one slight problem; I don't know if Hermione can survive long enough to get to the mountains.

I look down at her; she is really pale. I walk abit further, before stopping beside a tree. I lay her down, and glance at her cut; I really don't know what to do. I sigh, before glancing towards her face again; she's getting paler by the minute.

I take off her jacket, and position it so her head is leaning on it; I put mine under her head too. Then, taking a deep breath, I pull up her top, exposing her stomach.

The cut is fairly deep, but doesn't go down far enough to be a 'sudden death wound', as my Mother would say. It is still bleeding however, and she has lost a fair amount of blood. I gulp.

I pull my pack off of my shoulder, and look around in it, before finding my water bottle; it's my only hope at the moment. I'm just about to put a bit onto her wound, when I see it. A parachute. I close my bottle quickly, before launching forward and taking the parachute into my hands. I pop it open. A message flutters out, and I grab it before it flies away.

Use this to treat her,

Severus Snape, D4

I look inside, and see a bottle, and a little pot I pick up the bottle first; it has 'Essence of Dittany' labelled on it. I sigh in relief. Mum has this at home; it makes the wound close up, and look several days old. I then look at the pot. It doesn't have a label, but as soon as I open it, I know what it is; soothing cream. Mum also has that, but obviously not as good as this; it's from the Capitol.

I take the bottle to Hermione, and gently drop a small amount of the brown liquid onto the wound; it automatically heals, a dark scab forming. I smile. Then, I take the soothing cream, and dip my fingers into it, before gently spread it over Hermione's stomach. I try and be gentle, just incase she wakes up. Then, I see a purply green bruise up near her ribs, and remember Blaise kicking her. I spread the cream over the bruise, but I'm not sure whether or not it helps as I'm unaware of whether or not she has any broken ribs.

After I have treated her, I lean back. I watch her for a while; colour is appearing back in her cheeks which is a good sign. She starts to move, and I can't help but feel slightly nervous for when she wakes up; I drink some of my water and eat a cracker to calm me down.

I continue to watch her, as she moves slightly. Her head moves to the left, and I watch in awe as her eyes pop open.

She doesn't notice me at first; she just lays there. Then, she tries to sit up, but winces.

"You should stay down for a while," I say, and she looks towards me, her face in shock.

She looks at me for a long time, and I feel uncomfortable. Why is she looking at me like that? I don't like it when people stare at me.

"W-what happened?" She asks, after a moment of silence.

"Well Blaise-"

"I know that," she says, cutting me off, arching an eyebrow.

I swallow. "Well, I err, I saw it. I saw him attack. When he had gone, I came and got you, an-"

"Why?"

"..d I walk- what?"

She frowns. "Why did you come and get me?"

"I couldn't leave you to die," I tell her, confused at her reaction.

"Why couldn't you?" She asks.

"B-because! You were still alive and I would never have forgiven myself if I had left you! I-I'm not the sort of person who could leave you to die! You still had hope and life!" I am quite angry as she doesn't seem very grateful for me saving her life.

"It would have been easier for you; 1 less person in your way," she states, and I sigh.

"Look, I've done it now; I would have atleast thought I deserved a thank you," I mutter, put out.

"Right. Sorry. Thank you," she says quietly.

"No problem," I say, giving her a little grin.

"So... how did you save me? I know you came and got me blah blah.." she says, trailing off.

"Well, I walked, well ran for a while, and I thought of going to the mountains as it would be good and hard for anyone to find you when you were well unconcious. But then I realised that you were getting pale, so I stopped, and put you down. I took off your jacket and mine and used it to cushion your head; I examined the slash on your stomach and was about to apply water when a parachute came down; it had 'Essence of Dittany' and soothing cream, from your mentor I think... Severus Snape?"

"Y-yeah." She frowned however. "Snape sent me something? He seemed to hate me."

"Well he helped you," I say shrugging.

"I suppose; it is his job though. I was sure he favoured Blaise."

We sit in silence, well, I sit while Hermione stays laying down.

"Well," she sits up, wincing. "I'll be off."

"WHAT?" I yell, pushing her back down.

She arches an eyebrow. "I'll be going?"

"N-no! Y-you can't!"

"Why not?"

"B-because! You're still very weak; I mean, you can hardly move! You have injured your ribs for Merlins sake! You need to rest for atleast three days! If you go off now you'll be killed easily! Blaise is still out there, and he knows you're not dead! So no- you're not going." I fold her arms.

"Three days!? I can't stay on the ground by a tree for three days!"

"Well, where else do you suppose we go?"

"Well, I am going to the caves." She tries to stand up, but she can't.

"I told you; you need help; where are these caves?"

"Not far; about 10 minutes away once I'm back at the lake."

"Right, c'mon then," I lean down, and offer her my hand.

"What?" She says, confused.

"We're going to the caves!" I say, rolling my eyes.

"You're coming?" She asks, in disbelief.

"Obviously! You need help for a few days. If you're going to be resting, how else will you get food and water and protection?"

She glares at me. "I told you! I'm fine!" The look on her face shows that she certainly is not fine.

"No you're not! Now take my hand!"

After slight bickering, we off back towards the lake. Hermione jumper is in my pack, along with her water bottle. I have my hand on her back, supporting her, as she would fall flat on her face without me steadying her, even if she won't admit it.

We reach the lake, and she points off towards the direction she came from; I haven't been in that part of the arena yet. We walk slowly, and soon, there starts to be alot of rocks; finally, we come across what looks like a rocky hill; the cave.

We stagger in, and I help her sit down; then, I pull out her jacket and mine for her to use as a pillow; she uses her own, but refuses mine ("You'll get cold!") I also offer her the blanket, but she refuses that too; I'll put it on her when she's sleeping.

The sky goes dark and the Anthem plays, but no one died today. Hermione is reluctant to fall asleep, and I know it's because she thinks I'm going to attack her or something. To make her feel better, I give her my Dagger for when she sleeps; she tells me to wake her up in a few hours, and I say I will, but I won't; she needs sleep. For the whole night, I watch out for the Careers, which is funny, seeing as one is fast asleep beside me.


	11. Talking

When Hermione wakes up, she is more than angry. I can't understand why; she needed rest. Yet, she has a go at me.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" She says, folding her arms and glaring at me.

I roll my eyes before replying. "You needed rest! Besides, I'm okay; not even tired." However, my brain then decideds that it's time for me to yawn, and Hermione just stares at me, as if to say "Really?"

"Fine, I'm a little tired," I mutter.

"Then sleep now," she tells me.

"No," I say.

"Ron," she says, sighing heavily.

I smirk. It's the first time she has said my name. "Yes?"

"Sleep!"

"Fine fine," I mutter, slowly closing my eyes; I fall asleep straight away.

When I wake up, I'm shocked to find Hermione still here; she's laying the way I left her, the Dagger still by her side.

"Hi," I say, yawning.

"Hmm," she replies, not looking at me.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"I'm abit.. hungry." She blushes.

"Yeah, I am too," I say, and as if on cue, my stomach rumbles. "I don't have anything to eat; I had crackers, but they are all gone."

"I set traps yesterday; before I went to the lake."

"Did you?"

"Yes; not far from here; shall I go see?"

"No; I'll go. You stay and rest."

"Fine," she mutters. I can tell she doesn't like 'resting'.

I set off, leaving the Dagger with her; if I'm found, I'll be killed. The traps are fairly complex, and she has caught two wild turkies and a squirel; I recognise the knots used as a 'simple cross hand tail knot', which causes me to laugh. I pick up the animals, and carry them back to the cave.

"How will we cook them?" I ask her.

"I have matches," she says.

"But your pack got taken by Blaise?" I say, confused.

"I kept them in my pocket, incase my pack was stolen," she explains, pulling the box of matches from her pocket. I can't help but laugh.

I set up a small fire while Hermione de-feathers the Turkey. When I cook it, the smoke doesn't rise too high, so I'm not worried of being found. After I have cooked it, I set it down, and we each eat one leg.

"Can I ask you something?"

She looks at me, smirking. "You just did," she says.

I roll my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Alright, hit me with your question."

"Why aren't you with the others, you know, the other Careers?" It's been bothering me ever since the first training session.

She sighs, setting her leg down. "Good question," she mutters, and I smile.

"Well?"

She sighs again; she really does that alot. "I-I didn't want to be one of them. At the beginning of nearly every games, all the Careers team up, and hunt down the weaker tributes. The younger ones, the less able ones. I didn't want to be a part of it. They see the tributes as nothing but dirt; I see them as people. People with families back home. People who don't deserve this. People who want more than anything to get out alive."

"Oh," I whisper.

"Yes," she says. "When my name was pulled out of the glass ball, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't do what the others were going to do. That I was going to get away and not get involved with them, or anyone."

"That changed though, huh?" I grin.

"Well yes. But you are so stubborn that you wouldn't let me go," she says, locking her eyes on mine.

I roll my eyes. "Anyway, is that it?"

"Not quite," she says, leaning her head against the wall.

"What else?"

"Blaise.. didn't exactly like me. We had a few, er, run ins back in District 4."

"Did you?"

"Yes. He use to bully me terribly."

"Oh. Why?"

"B-because I'm a Muggleborn."

I was not expecting that. Of course I've heard of Muggleborns, but I never thought she was one. Not that it makes any difference. When a Witch or Wizard is born into a Muggle family, they are taken away from their parents, put into a orphanage in a District, and brought up without their parents; their parents then have their memories taken away, so they don't remember having their child at all.

"W-well there's nothing wrong with that," I say, looking at her. "Seriously."

"Thanks."

It's silent for a while.

"What was it like in District 4?"

"Alright. Slightly annoying. From the age of 7 I was trained with a Dagger; it's suppose to be for self defence, but everyone knows that it's for the games. When I was 10, I was allowed to train with any weapon, but I sticked to the Dagger; it's small and easy, and plus I didn't want to think like I had too much of a headstart on the other tributes."

"That was very thoughtful," I say nodding.

"I suppose.." her voice trails off, and she looks up at the top of the cave. "What about your District? District 7?"

"Ahh, it's great. Really. I've been climbing trees since forever. Mum use to call me her little monkey. It was really fun back home. I use to help out with the work, helping Dad cut down the trees with an axe, all things like that. When we were younger we had a tree house, but we don't go up there anymore; Mum's saving it for when Bill and everyone has kids."

"Bill?"

"Oh, sorry. Bill is my oldest brother, the oldest of the 7 of us."

The look on her face is priceless. "T-there are 7 of you?"

"Yup. Bill, Charlie, Percy, the twins Fred and George, me and Ginny. Ginny's the only girl."

"You have 6 siblings?"

"Uh-huh. Only me and Ginny we reaped for the games this year; everyone else is too old to be reaped."

"Right," she says, but she still looks shocked.

"It's alot I know."

She nods, looking at me. "We watched the reapings; I saw you're sister and your parents, but I thought the rest were your cousins or something."

I laugh. "Naa, all my family."

"Wow."

"Yeah," I say, leaning back.

"That girl from your District, Luna, was she friends with Ginny? I mean, I saw Ginny upset when Luna was reaped."

"Uh-huh, they were bestfriends. They had been for years."

She nods, biting her lip.

"What's your token?" I ask suddenly.

She holds up her wrist, showing a bracelet. It's made out of like string or something, but it's all done up in patterns.

"It was my friend Colins; he was a year younger than me, and a Muggleborn too; he was my only visitor when I was in the room. He was crying..." She trails off. "What about you? What's your token?"

I pull out my bear from behind my neck. "My Mum's Grandfather carved it for her when she was younger. After her brother died in the games, he made this for her because it was Gideon's favourite animal; it's here treasure. I tried to do a replica once, but it wasn't going right so I turned it into a Dolphin and gave it to my sister."

"It's really nice," she says, staring at it.

"Thanks," I say, feeling exceptionaly proud.

She yawns, and rests her head on the cave wall.

I got and sit beside her. The sky has gone dark, and the anthem plays, but I don't feel tired. I watch her eyes drift shut, and I wrap the blanket around her. Her head falls onto my shoulder. I blush. It takes me awhile, but I slowly put my arm around her, to keep her warm obviously. She snores slighlty, while makes me smile.

"Night Hermione," I whisper.


	12. Storm

12. Storm

Hermione wakes up at some point in the night, and tells me to go to sleep, a slight blush playing on her cheeks due to her head having rested on my shoulder. Not that I minded. It was quite nice watching her sleep, and very comforting. I was surprised that she woke up at all as she seemed to be in a very deep sleep.

She tells me that she will take over from watch, and I nod, closing my eyes; it doesn't take two seconds for me to fall asleep. However,I am awoken sooner than I would have intended by a sudden bang of thunder. My eyes pop open, and I glance around. Rain is thrashing down, large black clouds haunting the grey sky. There is no sun to be seen.

BOOM! More thunder, and a strike of lightning. I jump, and look around for Hermione, finding her fairly close to me, a look of most discomfort on her face.

"Are you alright?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

She looks over at me, shaking her head. "I-I h-hate storms," she stutters out, jumping at another crash of thunder. "W-we have so many back h-home because of the s-sea. It r-really scares me."

I sigh, looking at her panic-stricken face. "Looks like we are stuck in here for another day; not that I'd let you go out anyway," I say, my eyes glancing back, seeing lightening strike a near by tree.

"W-when am I going to be allowed to go?" She asks, still trembling. I pass her the blanket which she must have been put me when I was sleeping,

"When you're better; speaking of which, let me see your cut; we haven't checked it since it happened."

Hermione looks at me strangely, before gently lifting up her top. The cut looks okay and it has nearly completely healed. My eyes jerk up to the bruise, which is still there.

"Does it hurt?" I ask, indicating the bruise.

"A bit; not much," she says, before pulling her top down. I turn away, and glance back at the storm; hopefully it will kill off some of the Careers.

We eat the remainings of the turkey from last night, and drink some of our water, which is running very low; tomorrow I'll have to go out and get some. I thought of putting out water bottles outside to fill up with rain water, but Hermione said no for two reasons.

1. The bottles would most likely blow away.

2. It could be a trap, i.e, the rain water could contain poison.

After a while, I am so bored that I start carving words and drawings into the walls of the caves. Firstly, I put 'Weasley is our King', because that's what everyone use to say to me when I helped when the Quidditch game for my old secondary school against the rival school, 2 blocks away.

Then, I draw a picture of a bear, representing District 7, and a fish representing District 4. It seems nice, until I remember the circumstances, and that people would probably come here years from now and be told through a tour guide, "And this is where the late Ronald Weasley marked his place... sadly days later he was dead," After all, the arena's are all kept as tourist sites.

I stop after, wishing I hadn't done a thing, and sigh, settling down.

Hermione seems to be in deep thought about something.

"Are you alright?" I ask her.

"Yes I'm fine," she states, though I don't believe her.

"Hermione?"

Her eyes glance up and meet mine. "I-it's nothing," she says quickly, brushing a loose brown curl behind her ear.

"It must be something?" I say, confused.

"It's just," she pauses, looking away from my eyes. "W-when I'm better, I'm going to leave aren't I?"

I frown. "No, I'll probably be the one leaving; this is your cave after all."

She nods, biting her lip. "Right."

"Clearly that isn't the thing bothering you," I tell her knowingly.

She nod again. "It's just, I was lonely before; really lonely. And I know it's weird, and that we only have known eachother for barely three days, b-but I consider you as a friend and I trust you; you saved my life afterall. And I wondering whether you wanted to be allies. Officially." She says this all very quick, and it surprises me. To be fair, I had been thinking along the same lines, and I'm happy she brought it up, as I'm not too good with expressing my emotions; well, especially about something like this.

I suddenly realise that I have been silent for a while, and Hermione has grown fairly nervous.

"I'm sorry it was a stupid thought," she mutters, her cheeks blazing red.

"No!" I say loudly. "No! It's perfect! Sorry, I lost track of thought... but I feel the same way! I mean, it would have been hard to let you go and well..." I trail off, going red too. See. I'm crap at this stuff.

She looks up at me. "Are you sure? If you're just saying yes b-"

"No seriously," I say quickly, cutting her off. "I swear."

She smiles, and reaches out her hand. "Allies?"

I shake it. "Allies."

I feel much better knowing that we are allies now; I think Hermione does too. She seems slightly happier, even with the storm going on outside.

The thunder has died down slightly, but the lightning continues. The rain isn't as heavy either. Still, no canon fires so the storm hasn't killed or finished anybody off. Nobody's died in what seems like ages. The last deaths were Cormac's, Luna's, Lavender's and that other boy's. So that means... there are 7 people left. Me and Hermione, the 3 other Careers and Harry and Neville.

We cook the squirel and eat it for dinner; I don't like it very much, but it's the only meat we have, as we're saving the Turkey for later.

"Hey Ron?"

"Uh-huh," I say, turning towards Hermione.

"What's your favourite hobby?"

"Hobby?" I say confused, and she nods. "Erm, I dunno. Playing Quidditch or beating someone at chess; one of the two."

She smirks. "Beating someone at chess? Quite the player are you?"

"Yes Miss Granger I am."

She starts laughing, throwing her head back, and it makes me laugh too.

"What about you? Your hobbies?"

"Hmm, well I love reading; I read everything and anything. In the library at the orphanage they have all Muggle books for the Muggleborns, and my favourite is 'To kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. It's quite an old book. However, I do like swimming, probably due to the fact that it is compulsory in my school; you have to learn incase you go into the fishing business."

I nod. "I've never liked reading that much; except Quidditch magazines of course."

"Really? Well one day you can show me your Quidditch magazine, and I'll show you 'To kill a Mockingbird'."

"Of course!" I say happily. However then it dawns on us; we both aren't going to get out of here.

I clear my throat awkwardly. Hermione is biting her lip again. We both stay silent.

"I like to write too," she says, and I know it's to try and take away the awkwardness.

"Really? What do you write?"

"Stories mostly. I should have been writing instruction manuals though, don't you agree?" She murmurs, a strange mischevious glint in her eye.

"Ermm, should you?"

"Yes; especially one on how to make a simple cross hand tail knot."

"Oh haha very funny," I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

She grins at me, and sticks her tongue out.

"You better watch out Granger," I say through gritted teeth, pretending to be very angry,

"Why?" She says, laughing.

"Because I happen to know you're ticklish."

The look on her face just proves that my prediction was correct...

This ought to be fun.


	13. A weird feeling

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews :) Things are going to start getting more complicated now.

12. A weird feeling

The next day the storm has stopped completely, the grey sky being replaced with bright sunshine. I get up, and sort out my pack, as I am planning on going for water. Hermione insists on coming, but I tell her to stay here. Blaise is most probably still after her.

"I am fine! I can go and get water!" She says snorting, hands on her hips, shooting daggers at me.

"I'm not saying you can't! It's just easier! Besides, we need someone to stay here because of the food!" I say, not explaining the truth of why I want her to stay.

"Well, you stay here and I'll go get the water!"

"Nope. Na-uh. You're staying here; I'll leave you the Dagger; after all I'll only be gone for a few minutes; the lake is really near!"

"I am able of going out! I'm fine." I know she probably is okay now, but it doesn't change my mind; she is staying here.

I walk out of the cave, the warmth of the sun hitting my face. "Stay here!" I shout, before wandering into the forest.

"Ron!" I hear her yell in the distance, and I smirk.

I walk slowly, kicking rocks as I do. I hum a tune, and I am so off into my own little world, that I don't even notice two very smug people standing before me.

"Well well well. If it isn't little Weasel."

I glance up and see Draco Malfoy, his white blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight. He has a long gash on his right arm, but it doesn't look too threatening. His grey eyes are full of happiness and... hunger. I gulp nervously.

Pansy is sneering at me, her small dog like face making me wince. She looks fine, like nothing is wrong with her.

"How should we kill him Pansy?"

"Don't know Draco; I don't know."

They are both coming towards me, Malfoy pulling out a fairly large sword from his belt. "I think I know how," he murmurs, lifting up the blade...

"Wait!" I say quickly, an idea suddenly entering my mind. "Y-you can't kill me!"

"Why not Weasel?" Malfoy grins, holding the sword in the exact same position.

"Because Blaise will kill you when he finds you that you killed the only person who knows where Granger is!" I say.

Malfoy flinches, and glances towards Pansy, and then back to me. "How do we know you're telling the truth?" He asks, angrily.

"Because someone saved her; someone helped her after Blaise cut her; and how would I know unless that was me?"

"He has a point," Pansy mutters to Malfoy, her eyes still stuck on me.

"Well then Weasel!" Malfoy exclaims. "Lead us to her; now!"

I start walking quickly, Malfoy and Pansy close behind. However, I don't walk back towards the cave. Instead, I lead them in the opposite direction.

I walk for a while, every now and then making sharp turns. I can hear Malfoy muttering, and I know that he is keeping fairly close to me. I start to panic. What am I going to do? Atleast I'm getting them away from Hermione; that's my main focus now. I know I probably sound like a wimp, but fighting won't resolve anything right now. He has a sword, and I have nothing.

We walk for a while, and I have no idea where I am. I'm amongst trees. And more trees. Trees. Trees. Never have I wanted to get away from trees so badly.

"How much longer?" Malfoy says, brushing past me, so he is blocking my path. He doesn't look impressed.

"Not much longer; about 5 minutes," I say calmly.

5 minutes! I've got to come up with something in 5 minutes! Damn. I can run. No, they'll catch up. I can attack? No that's out of the question.

We keep walking, and I try and put as much space between me and the two Careers without making it seem suspicous. The 5 minutes are nearly up and I'm struggling with what to do, when suddenly I hear a yelp of pain from behind me. I glance around quick, and see Malfoy fall backwards, an arrow nestled in his chest.

"Draco! Draco!" Pansy is yelling, and I glance up towards the trees, seeing a flash of jet black hair dissappear. Harry. I look back towards Malfoy and see his eyes begin to lose focus; then his canon fires.

I run quickly while Pansy sobs over Malfoy's death. I need to get back to Hermione. I dash through the trees, but I don't have any sense of direction. The lake is miles away by now for sure. Once I'm hidden from Pansy, I start walking back the way I came, every now and then turning like I did whilst leading Malfoy and Pansy away. I walk for ages, until finally, I came across a patch of mud; I follow it until I reach the lake.

I put the two water bottles into the lake, and watch them fill up; then I clean them. I start walking back to the cave, when suddenly I'm attacked by someone with bushy brown hair; Hermione has jumped on me, wrapping her arms around me as tight as she can get.

"I-I thought-" She's cut off, as she burries her face into my chest.

"'M okay," I say gently, holding her tight. "'M fine."

She holds me tighter if possible, and it's very comforting. I smell her hair, which is right under my nose, and it smells like... flowers. I don't know which flowers, but very nice flowers. Roses or something.

She pulls back, and I see that her face is red; has she been crying? But before I can ask, she has grabbed my hand, and is pulling me back to the cave. When we reach the cave, she sits down, indicating for me to sit beside her.

"What took you so long?" She asks, her voice still slighty muffled.

"Ran into Malfoy and Pansy," I mutter, cringing at the thought of Malfoy's body.

Her eyes widen. "H-how did you get away?"

"I told them that Blaise wouldn't be very happy if he found out that they had killed the only person who knows where you are."

Hermione looks at me, terror in her eyes, before recoiling. "W-what?"

I suddenly realise what caused her reaction. She thinks I was giving her up! "No! I mean, I said that to distract them! I wasn't leading them too you! I was leading them away from you! I had to get them as far away from you as possible! I wouldn't- how could you- I mean-"

"Sorry, I just thought that's what you meant," she whispers, blushing slighty, brushing a curl behind her ear.

"No it's f-fine," I say, slighty shocked that she thought I was going to let them kill her. "Anyway, I was leading them away, wondering how on earth I was going to get away, when suddenly Malfoy yelps, and there is an arrow in his chest; Neville and Harry's work. His canon fired, and then I ran."

"Oh," she says nodding. "I h-heard the canon and well, thought the worst. I mean, you had been gone an awfully long time, and you had no weapon or anything; I didn't know what to think." Her face goes back to red, and she refuses to meet my eyes.

"I'm happy it was me and not you; they would have killed you on the spot!" I say, full of loathing and disgust.

"Yeah well.." her voice trails off.

"I got the water anyway; might need a few more minutes though."

She nods and takes the bottle I hand her, but looks like she is in deep thought.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just thinking... where was Blaise when Draco and Pansy got you?"

"Hmm. I didn't think of that."

"He was getting them to do his dirty work," she says, folding her arms, pulling her legs up to her chin.

"Yeah.. Malfoy and Pansy... they seemed almost...scared of him."

"He is very frightening," Hermione murmured. "Always was showing off back home. He use to pick on Colin more than me, because Colin was slighty...lovable. He wouldn't hurt a fly. He wasn't big enough compared to the others. Small. Only a little boy."

I sigh, looking around. My eyes shift towards Hermione, and I find her on the bridge on tears.

I move towards her, pulling her small body towards me. Her head hits my chest, and I wrap my arms around her. She snuggles further into my body, and I hold her closer than I've ever held anyone before. There's a strange warmth in my stomach, and it's a weird feeling. I've never felt this before.

And suddenly it hits me; I'm falling in love with Hermione Granger.


	14. The Feast

13. The Feast

The next day, I can't look at Hermione without blushing. It's weird. I never thought I would be falling in love with someone in the Hunger Games. It's the most annoying thing ever. Then again, I wouldn't have met her otherwise. Life is so awkward.

Hermione seems to sense that something is wrong, well right but wrong, and keeps looking at me curiously, obviously trying to get an explanation out of me; she isn't going to get one. What am I supposed to say? "Oh hi Hermione I just want to let you know that I'm falling in love with you; do you want some turkey?" No. That is not happening. Most embarrassing.

I wonder if it's obvious to Mum. She seems to know everything. She knew when Fred had broken the window seconds after she had woken up. She opened her eyes and went "Fred broke the window in the night, didn't he?" to Dad who looked at her in awe. No one knows things better than Mum.

I wonder what she's thinking. After all, her 17 year old son has fallen in love while in the Hunger Games, with a Career no less. Then again, Hermione isn't really a Career. She is as un-careerish as possible, if that makes sense.

Hermione cooks the other turkey, and neither of us speak. It's kind of weird. We have been talking non-stop for days, and know, because I realised how I felt, I made everything more awkward. It was fine when I was blissfully unaware.

I say thanks and eat the turkey leg, when finally, Hermione cracks.

"What's wrong Ronald?" She says, clearly irritated; she's never used my full name before.

"Nothing," I say, not meeting her eyes.

"Well obviously something is wrong, because you are refusing to speak to me!"

"I'm not refusing to speak to you; we just haven't had a conversation."

She rolls her eyes at me. "I'm trying to hold a conversation, but you don't seem bothered!"

It's true. She's been trying to talk to me alot, asking polite questions about Mum and that, and almost every question, I nodded or shock my head. I can understand why she is irritated. I would be too.

"Sorry," I say, knowing she deserves an apology. "I'm just not in the mood for talking."

She sighs, and I look up and meet her eyes; I blush again.

She doesn't try to get me to talk again, and I'm thankful for it; I guess I have to start controlling my emotions better.

Morning turns slowly into afternoon, and the hot sun makes me sweat; I try not to drink all my water at once.

While Hermione is staring out the cave, and I am watching her, Ludo Bagman's voice suddenly rings out around the arena.

"Ladies and Gentleman! Congratulations on making the last 6 of the Games! In honour of your survival, we have contacted your family and friends back home, and they have produced letters for your comfort. The letters are available in one hour from the Cornucopia; good luck!"

I can't believe it; a letter from home. A letter from Dad, from Mum, from Ginny! My heart is soaring and I feel so happy! Until I see the look of discomfort on Hermione's face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"It's a way to.. lure us in. There's going to be another blood bath."

I can see where she is coming from. Usually feasts lead to something like that. But a letter.. from home.

"I know but.. we've got to go for it!" I say confidently.

She frowns, her eyes burning into mine, and for the first time, I don't blush.

"We can't! We will most probably be killed in the process!"

"Hermione... I need it. I need to hear from them!"

She folds her arms across her chest. "You don't need to hear from them. You want to hear from them. It won't help at all!"

"Why won't it!" I yell, my anger rising. "They are my family! I want to have a letter!"

"I understand your point, but is it worth it! Do you want to die Ron? At the hands of Blaise or Pansy?"

"Of course not! But I don't want to let some bastard come along and take my letter!"

Her eyes flash dangerously. "We are not going!"

"Well I am!"

"No you're not!"

"I don't get it! Letters from home! Don't you want that!"

Her face looks hurt. "Don't you understand?" She whispers. "Who will I have a letter from? I'm from the orphanage."

"That boy... Colin or something? And the person who looks after you?"

"Madam Promfrey? That is worth risking my life!"

"Look, I understand.. but you have to understand where I'm coming from. I need to read that letter! To know that Mum and Dad are okay; I need to."

Her face soften slightly. "I know, but is it really worth it?"

"To me, yes."

She sighs in defeat. "Fine. But if we die for it, I'm going to kill you Ron Weasley."

10 minutes later, we're walking along in the forest on our way to the Cornucopia. I know it's dangerous, but it doesn't stop my heart soaring at the thought of Mum's writing. It makes me smile.

We reach the Cornucopia, but stay hidden beneath the trees. The letters haven't appeared yet. We wait in silence.

After around 5 minutes, a table comes up from the ground; there are 6 packages. 4 are blue, obviously for the boys, and two are pink. All of them have numbers. 1 for District 1, 2 for District 4, 1 for District 7, 1 for District 11, and 1 for District 12.

I glance around. No one has run in yet. I turn to Hermione. "You stay here; I'll get them; if anything happens, run. Promise me."

She looks at me shocked. "I can go in an-"

"No!" I say forcefully. "If Blaise sees you, you'll be dead; promise me you will stay here, and promise you will run if.. if anything happens."

She bites her lip, but nods anyway.

"Right I'm going," I mutter.

"Good luck," she whispers, leaning up and kissing my cheek, which makes me go exceptionally red.

I get back to my senses, and turn towards the Cornucopia. Glancing around quickly, I run in. I reach the table pretty fast, and I pick up mine and Hermione's packages. I'm about to run off when a Dagger narrowley misses me; Pansy is running in. I grip my hands on the packages and turn to run, but Pansy has caught up. She looks slighty out of breath, but has a dagger in her hand; I swallow uneasily.

"H-hey ginger," she mutters.

"Hey Dogface," I reply.

Her face goes bright red, and she goes in with the Dagger, but I grab her hand, stopping her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she whispers, her eyes burning with happiness.

"Oh really?" I snarl. "Why would that be?"

"Because Blaise may be going in for your precious little Mudblood if you waste too much time." She is grinning, an evil like smirk, and every ounce of me wants to run back in to Hermione. But I don't. She isn't telling the truth. Blaise is probably as far away as possible, and all she wants me to do is panic, letting in where abouts Hermione is. So I just laugh.

"I doubt that's possible," I say, my eyes gleaming.

"Why?" She asks, frowning slightly.

"Don't you think," I mutter, gripping her arm more tightly. "That Blaise is just playing you? He wants you to kill Hermione.. and then all he is going to do is kill you... if I were you, I'd drop his package, and run for my life."

Her eyes are full of fear; I've scared her out of her wits!

"I-I'm not going to do that.." she whispers.

"Why not?"

The fear goes, and she smiles again, like a devil.

"I've got a job to do; kill Ron Weasley." Her hands dashes from my grasp, and I stumble. She advances, and there is nothing I can do. Her dagger appears, and she plunges it forward. At that moment, I grasp her arm, pulling it down until she falls to the ground. I kick her hard, but she is all ready unconcious from the fall. She isn't dead.

I lean down, and snatch her Dagger. We do need one. Then I set off, looking catiously back at Pansy, with the two packages in my hands.

I'm running back into the trees, when Hermione emerges, looking extremely worried.

"W-what happened?" She asks, staring up at me, looking exceptionally scared.

"Ran into Pansy," I mutter. "Knocked her out."

Her eyes widen. "Y-you ran into Pansy!" She whispers angrily.

"Yes I did," I say quietly.

"You idiot! I could have helped an-"

I push my finger to her lips, stopping her from continuing. "I handled it fine; you promised to stay here and you did; I'm very happy with you."

She rolls her eyes, grabbing my hand. "Come on, let's get back to the cave before dark."


	15. Letters

A/N: Sorry for lack of updates! Got a new computer which slowed me down!

14. Letters

Dear Ron,

If you are reading this, it means you have gone against everything we have ever told you and went ahead to the feast. It also means, however, that you got out of the feast alive and hopefully well.

I don't know where to begin Ron. When your name was pulled out, we all fell apart. After we had said goodbyes, your father fell apart back home. He didn't cry in front of you because he wanted to stay strong; we could all see the fear in your eyes.

When we watched your interview I felt prouder than I ever have. You done so well, especially with the questions asked. I could see in your eyes how you were going to burst into tears at any moment, but you stayed strong. You have done us proud.

We have watched the games without stop; the blood bath at the beginning was horrific, and I am glad you got out un-hurt. For the majority of the first day, we only saw the blood bath and the Careers, as they were redeemed much more interesting. Luckily, we saw your desperate run into the woods, and knew that you were safe for that day.

Ginny was ever so happy when you became allies with Luna, as we all were. It was a remarkable thing to do. Ginny cried and cried when Cormac killed Luna, and we were all shocked when you turned on Cormac. It was a heroic thing you did, and for seconds I thought we would have lost you; I understand why you did what you did, and I am not upset with you in the slightest.

You are not to blame for Luna's death! The way you acted was shocking, as grief and guilt over-took your body. But listen to me; it was not your fault. Ginny does not blame you, and neither do I.

When you saved Hermione's life, I was shocked. I felt slightly uneasy at the thought of you getting close with a Career, yet she has proven that she is as less of a Career that anyone. Hearing her story really touched us all back here, as you can imagine. I have always felt that Muggle-borns have been given something horrific, being brought up without their parents.

I see the way you look at her Ron, and I am sure everyone else in the District does too. Love is a hard thing, and loving in the Hunger Games is the hardest thing that can come. I trust you to do what is right.

Lots of love with you at this difficult time,

Mum x

Dear Ron,

I can't believe it! You're okay! Mum's over the moon, as are all of us! Seamus has been watching most the games with us, and he's been sticking exceptionally close to me (I can look after myself). I've spent nearly every night wide awake thinking of you in that horrid arena. I'm glad you have an ally however, especially as it is Hermione (she seems very smart).

I cried when Luna died, as I knew I would. They zoomed in really close as Cormac cut her, and I puked all over my clothes; it was disgusting. Xenophilius has been shut up in his house ever since, and Mum's been taking food and water round to him; she's the only person he will open up too. I feel really sorry for him. He's lost his wife and his daughter now.

Dad says that even though Sirius hasn't helped you much yet, you have to trust him. Apparently, Sirius has this sort of strange stratergy, and you have to have faith in him. I hope Dad's right because Sirius hasn't done much yet has he?

The last thing I want to say is thank you. You've been really brave, and I'm actually happy to call you my brother (don't get too happy, or it won't last).

Love from,

Ginny xx

Dear Ron,

First of all, why the hell didn't you listen to me? What does 'No distractions' mean in your eyes? Go and fall in love? Well, to me it doesn't!

However, I have to admit you seem to have made the right choice in choosing Hermione; she is obviously very smart, and knows alot that could help you. I still think you are a bit of an idiot for 'falling in love' while in the Hunger Games. I don't doubt that everyone knows it; the way you two look at eachother is unbelievable.

You're doing well though. Really well. Your stylist seemed to have designed some really good outfits for you to wear. All of the girls back home are bewitched by you. Everyone's been talking about you; the girls are acting as if they are 'in love.' You've have obviously got the charming good looking vote, so well done! If you win this, you will have your pick on any girl in the entire District; you'll be a right ladies man! It's actually kind of funny watching them fawning over you. Most of them are writing letters for you too get, but each tribute is only allowed up to 4, so one might be sent to you, I'm not sure. Anyway, keep doing what your doing, and keep 'falling in love'.

From Seamus

Dear Ron,

I know we have never actually spoke to eachother, but you might know me. My name is Gloria Smithing, and I was in your year at school. I'm the pretty blonde one if you are wondering.

You are doing very well, and all of us at school (mainly the girls) are really supporting you! We call ourselves the 'Ronettes', which I came up with.

You are so cute and charming, and I can't believe I didn't notice it before! Your freckles are to die for!

We are very happy with your choice of ally, especially with what you are doing to win her over; it's clear she trusts you, and she will help you into getting out of the games! Once you are out we can have a real discussion, and I know you will find me as interesting as I find you, because well it's me! Not that I'm saying that none of the other girls are pretty, but I am clearly the most beautiful. I think everyone agrees even if it shames them.

I thought you looked so hot when you killed Cormac! The fury on your face was so...ahhhhh! Then you were gentle and cared for Hermione! I wish I was Hermione, we could spend so much time together!

Just get out so we can meet! Think of me always Ron!

Love the real Ronette,

Gloria xxx

P.S I love you!x


	16. The Archer

16. The Archer

I sit looking over and over my letters in shock. Mum's is alright, and so is Ginny's, but by what I've read, it seems like Seamus thinks this whole thing is a hoax. And as for this girl Gloria, yes I remember her. She's the worlds biggest bitch, and I can't believe she had the nerve to write to me, after ignoring me for all my life.

I glance quickly towards Hermione, and see that she's still reading. By the looks of it, she's got three letters. She's biting her lip as she reads them.

I hope she doesn't ask me about mine. For one thing, she might realise my feelings for her, and for another, she might assume that I'm just using her. Which I'm not. I am actually am falling in love with her.

She sighs, placing her letters down beside her. She looks up at me. "W-were they worth it?" She asks me.

I nod. Well, three of them were. Gloria's not so much.

"Were yours?" I ask.

She shrugs. "The one from Colin was nice. I think he's lonely back home without me though. The one from Madam Promfrey was nice too, but it didn't seem as personal.. she's probably written the same thing for someone else before."

"What about the last one?" I ask her, remembering seeing three letters.

"Oh, that was from Stacey, a girl who shared my dorm."

"Oh," I say.

"Yes.. who wrote to you?"

"Mum, Ginny, Seamus and Gloria."

She frowns. "Gloria? Who's she?"

I sigh heavily. "Some girl who goes to my school back home; she's never laid eyes on my before coming here though. But apparently, she 'loves me'," I put a great deal of emphais on the words 'love me', and Hermione gives a slight chuckle.

"Interesting," she says, giving me a smile.

"Not really. I don't even know her. She can't just start saying she loves me and expect me to love her back. Love doesn't work like that."

Hermione nods, biting her lip. "You're right.. doesn't make rejection less painful though, does it?" The look she gives me is very strange.

"Well, I suppose.. but she doesn't really love me; you can't love someone in a short space of time like that."

"Really?" She stares at me for a moment, before blushing and looking away. But it doesn't hide it. D-did I see it? That look in her eye.. does Hermione love me?

No, she can't you fool. She doesn't. It was your mind playing tricks on you.

We don't talk anymore about the letters. We just sit there, in a silence. A fairly awkward one at that. I start humming a tune, trying to ease the tension, but it doesn't work. Instead, it just makes it more awkward.

After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Hermione finally speaks up.

"We need food."

Its true. We have nothing.

"Right, I'll go out an-"

"No! I'm better! You cannot keep me trapped up in here any longer! I am coming, and that is final!"

She is standing up, hands on her hips, as if daring me to argue.

"Fine, fine," I mutter.

"Good," she says happily, folding her arms and smiling.

"We'll go tomorrow though; Blaise still might be near."

She nods, and sits down comfortably next to me. After a while, her head falls onto my shoulder, and I look round, expecting to find her asleep (she's only ever done something like this when crying or sleeping), but instead, her eyes are open, glancing out of the cave.

*

The next morning, Hermione is ready to go. She seems happy that she's coming with me.

We set off around noon (judging the positioning of the sun), and we walk for a while.

"We should get berries or something; I'm not good at hunting," I tell her.

"Alright.. maybe we should split up, it would be easier then?"

I frown. Split up? Is she mad. Before I can say anything, she's speaking again.

"Look, I know what you're going to say; but it would be easier, and anyway, there are only what.. 6 people left?"

I sigh. "Fine. But meet back here in 10 minutes, alright?"

She nods, and sets of walking to her left. I frown as I take the right.

I'm okay with plants; Mum's taught me the basics. I know how to identify whar is posionous, and Mum's moto is, 'If you don't know it, throw it', and I keep that in mind.

I find a few blackberries, which I take, eating a few (they are very nice). There doesn't seem to be any others that I know, so I leave them. I start walking back to the where we are supposed to meet. The sun is shining, and it seems like a very pretty day. Back home, me and Seamus would climb trees in weather like this. Perfect weather for tree climbing, seriously.

I'm there first; she hasn't returned. I look around my suroundings, admiring a beautiful little butterfly. It's red and blue, and it reminds me of Ginny for some reason.

I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Where is she? She has to be clo-

A canon. Loud. Deathly. And no Hermione.

I panic, running in every direction. She can't be- no. It's not her, I refuse to believe it. My face is probably very pale.

I run everywhere, barely glancing anywhere, when suddenly, there it is. The body.

It's Neville.

His eyes are open. His face is pale. His head is nearly hanging off from the rest of his body.

It's the most gruesome murder yet. Someone had tried to behead him. No doubt who.

I stumble back, vile rising in my throat. I feel like I'm going to be sick.

I glance around quickly, but Neville's killer is no where to be seen; nor is Harry.

My eyes flick back to Neville. Laying by his side, is a sheath of arrows and a bow. He was the one who killed Draco. He must have been. He is the archer.

I can't seem to walk away. I know I have to move, the hovercraft will be here soon, but I can't. I didn't even know him, yet I feel he deserves something. I take a deep breath, and I speak up, to no one in particular.

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

If anyone should live on, it should be those who have fallen at the hands of another, the pure innocent beings.

I walk away.

As I walk, I remember the reason I stumbled upon Neville; Hermione. I need to find her, as quick as possible. I can see her, frantically searching for me, and sigh heavily.

I start running, taking deep breaths, and using my brain a little more. Just find Hermione. Just find Hermione.

"RON! RON!" I hear her voice, loudly coming from behind me. I turn, and see her, running as fast as she can towards me. Her eyes are wild, her hair casading out of her tight plait.

"Hermi-"

I'm cut off as she jumps into my arms, pressing her lips suddenly against mine.

Hermione Granger is kissing me.

Her lips and soft and sweet. I haven't got much experience with kissing. Well, none at all to be fair. This is my first kiss.

I am suddenly aware that I am not doing anything. I feel her pulling away, and I quickly kiss her before she can; it moves back in again.

I pick up her body, lifting her up off her feet. I feel her fingers playing with the ends of my hair. My arms wrap tightly around her waist.

Then, it's over. I don't know who pulled away first; it could have been me, it could have been her, or it could have been both of us.

Her face is really close to mine, and I can count the amount of freckles on her nose. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven freckles on her nose. And... three on each cheek.

I glance to her eyes, and see her staring at her, breathing heavily. Her cheeks are faintly pink. Our arms are still tightly wrapped round eachother; I don't want to let go.

"That was..." I can't think of a word to describe it, and my sentence hangs in the air.

Hermione smiles slightly. "I know," she whispers.

It's not ideal. But it's now or never right?


	17. Frozen

Chapter 17. Frozen  
We walk for a while, hand in hand. My hands are sweaty. I hope she can't find it. My cheeks are still red and my ears feel hot. It's a weird feeling. A couple of minutes ago, Hermione kissed me. She actually kissed me. It wasn't a dream. I know it wasn't. In a dream you don't feel, and I know I didn't just imagine the softness of her lips; they really were that soft.

It's not until we reach the cave that I remember Neville. Something must have shown on my face, because not a second later, Hermione speaks up worriedly.

"Ron? Ron, what's wrong?"

I slump down against one of the rocky walls, Hermione sitting in front of me. Her eyes are wide. Her hands go up to my cheeks, and cup my face. "Are you okay?" She whispers.

I look into her eyes. I swallow. "It was Neville's canon; I saw his body. S-somebody had tried to cut his head off." My words fail slighlty towards the end.

I glance away from her. I need to get the image of his body out of my head. For a few carefree moments, it had been off of my mind.. because Hermione had kissed me. To stop myself thinking of him, I need her. She helps get rid of all the horrid gruesome images. Before I can help it, the words are out of my mouth.

"Kiss me again."

A slight blush arises on her cheeks. "W-what?" Her voice is higher than usual.

"Kiss me again."

Her cheeks are pink, but she doesn't tear her eyes away from mine. Her hands are still on my face, and I bring one of my hands up and hold her left hand there.

"You can start it too, you know," she tells me, as her face comes closer.

"I know," I say, and then we are kissing again.

It's slower than before, more meaningful. Her hands spread to the back on my neck again, and my arms are on the small of her back. Her lips are still soft, and calm me. My hands move higher, and they tangle in her bushy curls; her hair is softer than I thought it would be. Almost as soft as her lips, but not quite.

I don't know how it happens, but suddenly I'm laying on top of her. She must have come to her senses, because she squirms suddenly, peeling her lips away from mine. I pull away, and sit up, running my hands through my hair, as she sits up too. I look at her, but she isn't looking at me. Instead, it looks as if she is purposely avoiding my eye.

"Hermione?" I say, confused.

"Yes?" She still isn't looking at me.

"Is everything okay? Was.. was that bad? I mean.. was I bad? A bad kisser?" I know I'm a bloke, and being a bloke, I shouldn't care about how good I am at kissing. That's what girls do. But I do care.

"No. You kiss perfectly fine... more than fine actually.."

"Then what's the problem?"

Finally, she gives in and turns to look at me. She opens her mouth, but pauses, and thinks for a second. Then she speaks.

"We shouldn't do that again," She states, looking fully into my eyes.

"What? Why not?"

"Because! We are in the Hunger Games Ronald!" She says, irritated.

"Errm, yeah, I kinda know that, having just seen a body with a guys head hanging off!" I say, sarcastically.

She glares at me, and I see tears forming in her eyes. Funnily enough, I don't care.

"Well, if you know we are in the Hunger Games, then you know why we shouldn't do that any more!"

"Sorry, not following," I say, folding my arms.

"You don't kiss people in the Hunger Games!"

"Why not?"

"Because! Kissing someone leads or has already lead to feelings! And you can't expect to have feelings or fall in love with someone in the Hunger Games, because only person can get out! One! Not two!" She is crying now, and that doesn't help my anger. I glare at her.

"Wow, who said anything about me being in love with you?" I shout. "I just want a bit of action, especially if I could be dead in 24 hours! Do you seriously think I'm in love with you, because I want a snog?"

Immediately, I know I've gone too far. I look into her eyes, and I see her heart break. Right there. I see it. Tears continue falling down her cheeks, but she doesn't care to wipe them away. She just lets them fall.

She stands up. She's still crying. She doesn't look at me, and I don't look at her. How could I say that? How could I be so stupid?

She walks out the cave. I hear a distant clap of thunder. I feel like I've frozen.

She's gone.

I don't know how long I sit there, but it feels like days. Finally, I stand up. I walk to the edge of the cave. Rain in thundering down, and Hermione is nowhere in sight. I should have followed her, screamed for her to come back, declare my love for her right there and then.

But I didn't. I just sat there in silence, letting her leave. I let her leave me. I let her disappear. She could die now. I felt that she was safe when she was with me, but now, now she isn't. Now she is out there, and so is Blaise. So is Pansy. And even though I thought of asking him to be an ally, Harry is out there too. They are all dangerous to her.

An image of Hermione, her head hanging off in a similar way to Neville's, shoots through my head. I shake it off, but it's still there.

I cry out in frustration, and feel hot tears prickle in the corner of my eyes. If she dies now, it will be all my fault. I basically told her that I had been using her. And she believed me.

I look around the cave. This was her cave. I don't deserve to stay here.

I lean down, and pick up my backpack.

I walk out into the rain.


End file.
